Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), a Subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), has surpassed its coal production target of 2019-20 by a comfortable margin and has also registered highest ever production in a single day on 31st March, 2020 amidst lockdown due to COVID19. WCL registered a production of 57.64 Million Tonnes (MT) against the target of 56 MT set for the year 2019-20. The Company registered a growth of 8.4%, which is highest among all Subsidiaries of CIL. Despite complete lockdown in the country, WCL continued to create new records in production every day during the last week of March, 2020. The Company registered highest ever single day production of 5.02 lakh tonne on 31st March 2020.
WCL has been steadily making growth in coal production year-on-year basis since 2014-15. The Company had achieved a production of 39.73 MT during 2013-14 and could reach a figure of 57.64 MT in 2019-20 due to opening of 20 new projects during last 5-6 years. However, during this period, the Company also lost production to the tune of 22 MT due to closure of mines on exhaustion of reserves. If quick opening of new mines could not have happened, WCL would have gone down to a production level of 17 MT. These 20 mines contributed 41.2 MT during 2019-20, which is more than 70% of total production. Despite being one of the most difficult Company among all Subsidiaries of CIL with adverse geo-mining condition & presence of black cotton soil, Team WCL ensured production growth to a level of 57.64 MT in 2019-20.
WCL has been given a target of 62 MT for the year 2020-21. With a stupendous task of reaching 1 Billion Tonne (BT) coal production by CIL by 2023-24, WCL will be contributing to the tune of more than 75 MT of coal by 2023-24 to meet the energy demand of the Nation.
With increase in production, WCL has been able to provide more coal to the consumers of Central, Western and Southern India. As on date, consumers linked to WCL i.e. State Gencos of Maharashtra, MP, Gujarat, Karnataka and NTPC are having stock of more than 25 days consumption at their end. Earlier such consumers were taking coal from Subsidiaries located in Eastern India thereby incurring high cost on railway freight. Team WCL has taken a vow to meet the full requirement of coal of these consumers in a span of 1-2 years so that the landed cost of coal could become cheaper and the savings thereof to the State Gencos could be passed on to the power consumers by reducing tariff.
WCL is the only Subsidiary of CIL which has also diversified apart from coal mining activity. Sand from Overburden and use of Mine Water has been the flagship programme of the Company during last 2-3 years. After getting license of commercial processing of Sand, WCL has started providing cheaper Sand to Government entities for their day-to-day requirement. The Company has set a target of nearly 10 Million Cu.M. sand production by 2023-24 to make available cheaper Sand in the market for common people. Similarly, mine water, “Coal Neer”, is being provided in nearby villages through Self Help Groups.
