There is a need to produce more coal as demand for the dry fuel is expected to go up post Covid-19 pandemic, said Coal India Limited (CIL) Chairman Pramod Agrawal here on Friday.
Agrawal, who was on a day-long visit to the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), inspected mining and coal evacuation operations at Talcher coalfields.
Coal India is emphasising on increasing production and would cross 650 million tonne production mark during financial year 2020-21, the Chairman said.
“Need of country is to produce more and more coal”, Agrawal said, highlighting rising demand for coal to meet energy requirement for revival of industry post Covid-19 restrictions. There was a sudden fall in demand of coal due to the pandemic, which had forced subsidiaries to slow down production and focus on other related works like removal of overburden and strengthening of infrastructure for coal transportation.
He appreciated MCL for commendable growth in all the major parameters of production, despatch and over burden removal.
“MCL has done very good till now, but more challenges are ahead,” said Agrawal, who also laid the foundation stone of Bhubaneswari coal handling plant (CHP) Phase II, which is part of First Mile Connectivity (FMC) projects in MCL.