Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of CMPDI, Shekhar Saran, talks about year 2018 and the future plans of CMPDI with The Pioneer. As he sat enjoying the winter sun in the morning with his wife Meeta Saran, the CMD spoke about the plans of CMPDI to explore the non-coal sectors, new apps formulated and much more. Excerpts:
What is your New Year resolution for both personal and professional life?
Personally, my resolution is to be content and happy with whatever I have in all aspects of my life. Professionally, I want to ensure that the achievements of CMPDI in 2018 is strengthened and taken forward this year as financial year 2018-19 has been tougher for CMPDI as compared to 2017-18.
When you say the year has been tougher, what do you imply?
Year 2017-18 was an exceptional year and the growth and achievements were beyond our expectations as a result 2018-19 has become challenging. However, the target we have set will be achieved. This year there would be definite improvement in balance sheet. Also, all the targets including preparation of geological report, project reports, environment reports and others are on schedule and will be fulfilled.
In 2017-18 the growth rate in drilling was very high. Can we expect similar growth rates this year?
In 2015-16 total drilling done was 9.94 lakh metres from which it increased to 11.26 lakh mts in 2016-17. There was an alluring jump of 18 21 per cent in 2017-18 with the total drilling being 13.66 lakh mts. This year we will be definitely achieving the drilling target 13.68 lakh mts but it is unlikely that we will achieve significant growth this year as there has been a delay in arranging funds for exploration in non-CIL areas.
What was the cause behind the delay and how did it affect the drilling capacity?
The delay was due to some administrative issues of Government of India as a result there was a delay in clearing liabilities. CMPDI takes help from outsourced agencies like Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL) and others. Their performance was also affected due to delay in providing funds.
CMPDI's major work is exploration in Coal India Ltd areas. How much of CIL area has been covered?
50 per cent of our achievement in 2019-20 will be from CIL. We have already explored 75 per cent of CIL areas and whatever is left does not have much potential as coal reserves are deep seated, situated in deep forest areas or places having law and order issues. All the good blocks with potential reserves have been explored. It is expected that in the next five years we will be exploring 90per cent CIL areas.
How do you plan to cover the not-so-potential areas of CIL?
We are taking permission from forest wherever required. The capacity of our drills has increased from 600 mts to 1000 mts in last 5 years so we can now reach the deep seated reserves. Also, we are getting support from State Government in places where there is a law and order problem. We prioritise for exploration based on potentiality and urgency.
What scope do you see in coal production sector in the coming years?
India will see a growth in this sector for the next 15 to 20 years. A downward trend in coal production may begin by 2035-40 and 10 years before that we will have reached the peak exploration target.
If coal exploration would not be a viable sector in the coming years, what would be the next move of CMPDI?
To emphasise on diversification in CMPDI’s activities, CMPDI has to think of alternatives apart from the activities being carried out by it presently. Now, the new fields we can expand to alternative use of coal like urea and methanol. Coalbed Methane (CBM) and Coalmine Methane (CMM) are also the targets. We are taking up a CBM block work for BCCL which will be a game changer. Also, we are targeting two methane projects in BCCL, and one each in ECL, CCL and SECL.
Will switching from coal to CBM be easy?
In 2018 Government of India gave a relaxation to CIL subsidiaries to extract CBM and CMM from their lease hold areas without any approval from Ministry of Petroleum as Natural Gases, as opposed to previous years. Now, all the subsidiaries having potential CBM blocks can undertake those projects and we will assist them. In fact, this is not shifting from our traditional business line but, diversification in other areas concurrently.
Are there plans to expand in non coal sectors as well?
We have huge resources and expertise in exploration and we should utilize it. In the next two-three years we will have to explore alternative fields where CMPDI can use its resources. Most of the leases of iron and bauxite ores are to expire in 2019-20 after which auction will be conducted for issuance of new leases which is a challenging process. We have been associated in coal auction with ministry of coal since 2014 so we have an expertise in this sector. We can offer our services to state governments for auctioning leases for various minerals. We are also planning to provide environmental impact assessment and monitoring services to coal and other industries, both in public as well as private sectors. We have about 90 environment experts accredited by NABL which is the highest number, any organization has in the country. Geomatics and hydro-geological services being rendered by CMPDI also offer potential business areas considering its level of expertise.
CMPDI is also providing technical support in form of mobile applications and portals. What are the latest projects?
An app, Khanan prahari, was prepared and launched in 2018 wherein, any person who notices illegal mining in coalfield areas, CIL or non CIL, can take a photo and upload it on the app with a message. The complaint would directly reach concerned subsidiary nodal officer if the area comes under CIL or to the nominated state officer in case of non-CIL areas.
The officers will then take action as required and the identity of complainant would be confidential. An in house portal, Mine Data Management System (MDMS) was also launched in 2018 on instruction of the ministry. Under this activity status of all captive coal blocks has to be uploaded by both government and private parties on the portal. The process of preparing two more apps, Coal Jal and Green CIL is ongoing. All these Apps are being prepared with 100per cent in-house efforts.