Union Minister of Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi on Thursday announced that death of Coal India Limited employees because of Corona pandemic will be treated as accidental death and the kin of the employee will get the same financial benefits as they get in the case of accidental death during duty. Around four lakh odd on roll and contractor's workers of Coal India will get benefited from this decision

During his visit to State Capital on Thursday the Union Minister, accompanied by his colleague Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda held meetings with Chief Minister Hemant Soren and also subsidiaries of CIL to review the works in the State and a number of issues including coal mining auction.

Talking to the media through a virtual press conference after the meeting, Joshi said that the Union Ministry of Coal decided to start commercial mining to stop import of coal and the decision has been taken in the National and public interest.  He said that a long discussion was held with the Chief Minister mainly on various coal mining issues and it positively concluded. 

"We invited him to talk on the issue because it is our thinking that problems can be sorted out through dialogues. The Chief Minister also assured us that he will also cooperate to find a way for sorting out the issue," Joshi said.

The Union Minister further said that the response of the commercial mining auction is very good. "Specially, in Jharkhand, we are getting 5 to 10 bidders for almost all of the mines put on auction. The State will get benefited from it and it will chart a new chapter of growth in the State," he added.

Joshi said that a cheque of Rs 250 crore was given to CM Hemant Soren against the Government land. He said earlier Rs 48 crore was given to the State Government by CCL. Both the Union Ministers also visited CCL Gandhingar Hospital and motivated doctors, paramedics and other categories of Corona Warriors for their outstanding works during the pandemic.  CMD CCL Gopal Singh, Directors (CCL) and doctors were present on this occasion.

"Putting their lives in danger, Coal Indians have performed a tremendous job during Covid pandemic. They are relentlessly doing a good job. That's why I proudly call them Coal Warriors ", Joshi said. He also reviewed the performance of coal companies CCL, Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) and Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) and he appreciated the hard work being put through by the Coal Warriors in the last few months in fulfilling the power demands of the nation during the ongoing

pandemic.

He said that Jharkhand is the only State in the Country to have three coal companies simultaneously excavating coal out of its mineral-rich soil. Coal companies CCL, BCCL and ECL are expected to mine out 742 million tonne (MT) of coal in the next four years, paying revenue of almost Rs 18,889 crores.

The State earned almost Rs 4000 crores every year during the last four years that is around Rs 16,000 crores. The holding company of these coal companies, Coal India Limited (CIL), pays about 30 per cent of its total royalty to Jharkhand alone while the share of production from Jharkhand is about 20 per cent.

The Chief Minister said after the meeting that several issues pending since decades were discussed in the meeting and the Union Minister has given positive assurance for the same. First time ever we got a pie of the dues of our land being used by the central government, said the CM referring to Rs 250 crore that was given by the Central PSU to the State.

“The Union Minister has requested me to reconsider the issue of the case that we have lodged at the Supreme Court. If we had talks earlier like this, the situation would have been different. We are discussing the issue with officials and the decisions will be taken in the State's interest. We have also raised the royalty issue on which we have got positive assurance,” he said.