The State Government has urged the Centre to allocate coalmines to the Mahanadi Coalfields limited (MCl) instead of the Western Coalfields limited (WCl), another subsidiary of the Coal India limited (CIl). Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written a letter to Union Coal Minister Piyush Goyal in this regard.
Patnaik’s letter followed the Ministry of Coal’s decision to allot four Odisha-based mines, namely, Rampia, Dip side of Rampia, Ghogarpalli and Dip extension of Ghogarpalli to the WCl instead of the MCl, which is already operating several mines in Odisha.
“Operationalisation of coalmines requires close coordination with the local administration for land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement of project affected families. The WCl with its headquarters at Nagpur in Maharashtra may not be in position to effectively tackle these issues, which are critical to the smooth operationalisation of coal mines,” Patnaik wrote. “The MCl has achieved a record production of more than 143 million tonnes of coal during the financial year 2017-18 and with a more focused approach towards rehabilitation and settlement of the affected families, it can grow further in partnership with coal communities,” he said in the letter. “In case MCl is unable to handle more coal mines in view of its existing commitments, CIl may consider to set up another subsidiary for Talcher Coalfield and the MCl may further scale up its operations in the Ib Valley region,” Patnaik added.