The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
RANCHI, APR 1, 2023
The Coal Mining Division of energy giant NTPC Ltd, under the leadership of NTPC Chairman & Managing Director Gurdeep Singh, has registered a phenomenal year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth of 65 per cent with the production of 23.20 million tonnes (MT) of coal in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) as compared to 14.02 MT in FY22.
The four operational coal mines viz. Pakri-Barwadih (Jharkhand), Chatti Bariatu (Jharkhand), Dulanga (Odisha) and Talaipalli (Chhattisgarh) have contributed to accomplish this highest ever annual coal production since inception.
So far, the captive mines have delivered 68.28 MT of coal to more than 22 power plants of NTPC.
Along with this coal production, NTPC has also attained the highest ever annual overburden removal of 73.0 million cubic meters in FY23 witnessing a Y-o-Y growth of 129 per cent as compared to 31.9 million cubic meters of overburden removal in the previous fiscal.
The NTPC Chairman & Managing Director congratulated the entire coal mining team on achieving this feat and expressed his confidence on achieving the target of 31 million tonnes for FY2023-24.
NTPC Director (Operations) and Nominated Owner of all mines Ramesh Babu V appreciated the coal mining division for setting the production benchmarks. In FY23, the nation witnessed an unrelenting surge in power demand due to heatwaves and rapid economic recovery. Amid this energy crisis NTPC coal mining took outstanding efforts to enhance coal production and ensure consistent quality fuel supply to NTPC power plants.
NTPC Regional Executive Director (Coal Mining) Partha Mazumder extended his gratitude to the Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; Govt. of Jharkhand; Govt. of Odisha; Govt. of Chhattisgarh; Directorate General of Mines Safety; and the district administrations for their unwavering support to NTPC Coal Mining in overcoming the roadblocks of land acquisition, rehabilitation & resettlement, agitation by local villagers, etc.
In line with the digital mission of NTPC management, the coal mining team has also introduced initiatives such as e-SMP – digitised Safety Management Plan; Sachetan – safety mobile app; Khanan Drishti – web app for recording & monitoring production efficiency; Integrated Coal Management System; GPS tracking of man & machinery through LoRaWAN technology; dump slope monitoring through TLS; and HEMM simulator at Talaipalli mine.
NTPC coal mining also acknowledges the responsibility of reducing the carbon footprint. The working areas are equipped with dust suppression and water-sprinkling systems. The monitoring of emissions, SOx, NOx, particulate matters, etc. are being done continuously, and tree plantation is being done at all available opportunities. Electrically operated HEMMs have also been introduced in the mines.
Coal transportation by road has been minimized by operationalizing a conveyor system (one of the largest in Asia) at Pakri Barwadih mine and use of rail transport from pit head to power plant at Dulanga and Talaipalli mines.
NTPC Coal Mining has delivered against all odds and shall continue to ensure supply of coal of consistent quality and size to its power plants for delivery of cheap and uninterrupted power to the stakeholders.
