GUWAHATI, July 3: The Assam government is keen to develop the state as a sustainable and environmentally clean source of coal for relevant industries, chief secretary Ravi Kota said.
Kota said this while reviewing coal projects in the state with chairman and managing director of Coal India Limited (CIL) P M Prasad.
The state government, under the leadership of chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, is also exploring ways to maximise exploration and utilisation of coal resources to accelerate economic growth, to reduce import of coal and to help in employment generation, Kota said while reviewing the progress of the ongoing projects of the North East Coalfields India Limited (NECIL) with Prasad.
A delegation of senior CIL officials, led by Prasad, called on the chief secretary.
At present, one coal mine in Margherita sub-division in Tinsukia district, under NECIL is actively extracting coal with an annual production of two lakh metric tonnes of coal.
The production is likely to increase to three lakh tonnes per annum very soon and efforts are being undertaken to expand the same to 15 lakhs tonnes (1.5 mn tonnes) per annum, he said.
“To achieve the same, coordinated action of the revenue and disaster management, environment and forest, and mines and mineral departments of Assam with NECIL will be undertaken. It is anticipated that the increased production of coal will not only meet the requirements of state-based industries but also increase the revenue to the state exchequer significantly”, Kota said.
The chief secretary said that to improve the livelihood of the mining workforce of the state through targeted CSR activities, Coal India authorities may identify schools and hospitals in the areas of mining and work on infrastructural development wherever required.
The concerned district administrations will provide necessary assistance as and when CIL shares the proposal in this context.
Highlighting the sporadic incidents of illegal mining activities, the chief secretary suggested that the CIL authorities in coordination with the respective district administrations must mitigate such incidents by considering area-specific issues like coal intake by locals residing near the extraction areas. (PTI)
