Centre Planning To Develop This Chhattisgarh Coal Mine Into Asia’s Largest

Gevra Mega project in Chhattisgarh of South Eastern Coalfields (SECL) recently became the first mine in the country to achieve 50 million tonne of coal production annually. The government is currently trying to expand its capacity to achieve 70 million tonne output annually which would make it the largest coal-producing mine in Asia.

Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena during his two-day visit to Chhattisgarh held a high-level review meeting with top officials of the Chhattisgarh government in Raipur.

The deliberations in the meeting were centred around issues related to SECL’s operations including environmental clearances, forest clearances, land acquisition, cooperation from the state government for rehabilitation and resettlement especially in respect of SECL’s mega projects such as Gevra, Dipka and Kusmunda, according to a statement from the ministry of coal released on Saturday.

During the meeting, coal secretary emphasised on time-bound completion of the projects with effective coordination with the state government and other stakeholders.

With officials of South East Central Railway (SECR) at SECL headquarters in Bilaspur, Mr Meena took review of Chhattisgarh East Railway (CERL) and Chhattisgarh East West Railway (CEWRL) rail projects.

The Secretary inaugurated ‘Chhal’ rail siding in SECL, Raigarh area, and also took stock of the progress of two rail corridors being developed on a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) model in the state.

The Coal Secretary also held a meeting with South East Central Railway (SECR) General Manager Alok Kumar in the presence of SECL CMD Prem Sagar Mishra at SECL headquarters.

The meeting was focused on evacuation of coal from Korba and Mand-Raigarh coalfields. Issues pertaining to SECL’s coal dispatch, availability of railway rakes, rail projects of SECL, etc, were discussed in detail. Senior functionaries of SECR and SECL were also present during the discussions.

On the second day of Chhattisgarh tour, Mr Meena inaugurated the Chhal siding and flagged off the rail rakes. SECL CMD Prem Sagar Mishra and SECL functional directors were also present on the occasion.

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