Few days back when Akanksha Kumari contributed as a Mining Engineer in Central Coalfields Limited (CCL)’s Churi underground mine, it was a historic day for the entire Coal India including CCL. The incident opened a new chapter in the history of the country’s coal mining industry when a woman engineer made her first arrival in a challenging role. This event was certainly going to give a new direction in the long run.
However, the second chapter of this story soon opened up when Shivani Meena, joined the Rajrappa project, a mechanized opencast mine in the Rajrappa area of CCL as an excavation engineer. This is unprecedented as Shivani is the first woman engineer in the Excavation cadre to work in an open cast mine. She has been given the responsibility of Maintenance and Repair of Heavy Earth Moving Machinery (HEMM). It may be noted that Rajrappa is an important project of CCL. Rajrappa area was recently awarded by the Ministry of Coal for its excellent work under Swacchta Mission.
A native of Bharatpur, Rajasthan, Shivani completed her engineering from IIT Jodhpur. Shivani credits her family for her success and states that it was their unwavering support that inspired her. She further states that working in Coal India Limited is a cumulation of years of arduous work and she wants to give her best to the company.
After underground mines, women engineers have registered their entry in open cast mines, thus giving the required impetus to gender equality and women empowerment in coal mining industry. Taking advantage of the opportunity provided by the Central government in the mining sector, these women have not only opened a door of hope and opportunities but have become an inspiration for other aspirant engineers too. Until now the niche work typically has been a foray of men. Girls like Shivani and Akanksha have not merely brought laurels to themselves and their families, but they are a motivation for many others who wish to pursue their leads across the country.
CCL as a responsible public enterprise has always tired its best to embody gender equality. Our female colleagues have been playing various roles in the company with utmost dedication and responsibility. Now they will be playing an active role in the coal mining too along with their male counterparts to meet the energy requirement of the country.
Union Coal Minister, Pralhad Joshi congratulated Shivani and CCL management. He tweeted that hope this will open avenues for more female professionals to join the mining sector. Hon’ble Minister of Women and Child Welfare, GoI Smt. Smriti Irani has also appreciated this achievement of Shivani. CCL CMD PM Prasad and functional directors extended best wishes to Shivani for her bright future.