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Head Honcho Speak Work comes as a natural thing for Partha S Bhattacharya, who was not only able to bring the BCCL out of the red but also has made a mark ever since he joined as Chairman of the Coal India Ltd(CIL). In this era of mobile telephony, Bhattacharya last year organized two day brain storming sessions to improve coal production and overcome difficulties being faced by coal miners. The brainstorming session was so unique that neither Coal Minister nor any of the top officials of the Indian Ministry were allowed to keep their mobile phones on. The "vichar manthan"(brainstorming) did yield nectar in the shape of many positive things. The CIL Chairman Bhattacharya is quite agile but with an attitude of modesty he is able to win hearts of all. He told <whispersinthecorridors.com> in a chat, "In order to match the future demand of Coal, CIL has planned to introduce high capacity Heavy Earth Moving Machinery in its Open cast Mines. CIL has also plans to open up large Underground Mines to meet the future coal demand from Underground Mines in a big way. This will require technology transfer from foreign countries." 1/What is the 'mantra' for your success ? Pride of belongingness to the institution, making the work enjoyable
for self and other members of the team who share a common commitment. BCCL was formed in 1971 through nationalization of Coking Coal mines. Subsequently non-coking coal mines were also nationalized and handed over to BCCL. It became a Subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL) on 1.11.1975. During the initial years after nationalization, BCCL was producing around 19 to 20 mill. tons of coal. The production increased slowly and stabilized at around 27 to 28 mill. tons in the nineties. This continued up to 1999-00 (27.90 mill. tons). Since then the production started declining sharply and reached a level of 22.68 mill. tons by 2003-04. During the 5 year period 1999-00 to 2003-04, the Company incurred an aggregate loss of Rs. 3801 crores of which around Rs. 1874.6 crores were cash losses. These cash losses led to accumulation of huge liabilities towards PF authorities, suppliers of goods and services, employees and the CISF. The continuing fall in coal production during this period aggravated the financial crisis and the Company found itself in a vicious circle. The turn around from a near bankruptcy situation was made possible through dedicated and sustained pursuit, of a revival strategy focused on enhancing production of high value coking coal and washed coal, and arresting / reversing the trend of persistent decline in coal production since 1999-2000. The need for conceiving and pursuing a revival strategy focused more on value enhancement as well as on volume of production rather than on production alone arose essentially from the fact that the high density of population, difficult mining conditions and associated legacy problem severely restrict the scope of increase in coal production. Several decisive steps were taken towards the end of FY 04 and the order of the priorities was readjusted to turn around from a near hopeless situation. In order to procure production-holding items on a fast track and subsequent payment, sufficient powers were extended to concerned Directors. Secondly, funds for investment for replacement of worn out assets were tied up with CIL even before the Revival Plan could be taken up for approval. This paved the way for infusion of new equipment in the Company in 2005-06. Procurement of HEMM was adopted as a major thrust area. To supplement the drive to improve production from departmental mines by re-vamping the existing capacity, efforts were made to obtain coal production from isolated patches by deployment of hired HEMM. The combined outcome of these measures is a reversal of the trend of decline in coal production established since 2000-01. There was a growth in coal production by around 1 mill. tons (4.4% ). In 2003-04, the break-even level of production was around 30.68 mill. tons. Achieving increase in production of such magnitude was ruled out under the given circumstances. It therefore became imperative to focus on a) increasing production of high value prime washed coking coal, and, b) unshackle the constraints in value realization, wherever possible. Accordingly efforts were made to reverse the steep decline in washed coal production witnessed during the earlier years. The decline was halted in 2004-05 and in 2005-06 the washed coal production touched 22.9 lakh tons as against 18.65 lakh tons in the previous year - an increase of 4.25 lakh tons, i.e. 22.8%. Simultaneously, a remunerative price for washed coal was arrived at bilaterally with SAIL. The Washery segment incurring losses continuously till 2003-04, managed to turn around in 2004-05 with a profit of Rs. 58.38 crores has earned a profit of Rs. 280.06 crores in 2005-06. To further unshackle the constraints on value realization, BCCL pioneered e-marketing of coal sale to non-core sector. This was commenced in 2004-05 but has matured only in 2005-06. In 2005-06 the total quantity of coal sold and lifted through e-marketing was 2.95 mill. tons and the additional revenue realized over the notified price from such sale is Rs. 195 crores. As a consequence of all the above measures, acting in tandem, the Company has earned profit of Rs.205 crores solely from operations, for the first time in its history, in 2005-06 even after absorbing the impact of revision of wages under NCWA-VII signed in July 2005. 3/What are your priorities as Coal India Chairman To match the growth rate, we need to step up production from the present level of 363 million tonnes to 521 million tons by the end of XI Plan. Incremental production has to be stepped up from 84 million tons during X Plan to 157 million tons in the XI plan period. In order to meet this formidable task the priorities are (a) Achieving quantum jump in coal production thereby narrowing demand-supply gap. (b) Issues regarding environmental pollution & its mitigation. (c) Social dislocation/disturbances & its mitigation by formulating a more acceptable Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) policy to facilitate acquisition of land for mining and integrating the same with (d) restoration of used up land to original shape by implementing a well defined land reclamation policy that envisages large scale commercial plantation or pisciculture through Cooperatives or SHGs formed out of Project Affected Persons (PAPs) (e) Intensify exploration to establish further coal reserves. (f) Infusing appropriate technology specially for UG mining, coal beneficiation, safety etc. (g) Reducing cost of production to improve competitiveness (h) Tackling competition from upcoming domestic players as well as imported coal. (i) Beneficiating non-coking coal on a substantially larger scale & supplying quality coal as per buyers' choice. (j) Adopting safe mining practices with reduction in accident rate. (k) Adopting clean coal technologies-UG/SURFACE gasification of Coal, CBM, CMM, AMM, liquefaction of coal (l) Acquiring overseas mining stakes. etc. We cannot achieve this high growth alone and will have to download the challenge to technology providers and equipment suppliers. I am happy that the country has created a lot of equipment manufacturing capacity. It is good that the mining equipment industry in India is developing with quite a number of manufacturers operating and I am confident that they shall be able to deliver what they are expected in the years to come. 4/How do you foresee coal scenario in India when PSU majors like NTPC and SAIL are still importing coal? India produced 618 billion units of power during 2005-06 of which generation
through coal was 405 Billion units which clearly defines the role of
coal in India's power sector. CIL has ensured that no power station
ever starves of coal and if they have faced problems it is due to reasons
other than non-availability of coal. However, since high grade coking coal for steel making is not available in abundance, importing is required to supplement the indigenous availability. 5/List three major achievements in BCCL Reversing the trend of decline in coal production, introduction of e-marketing of coal, introducing coal production with hired machines amidst stiff oppositon. 6/Demand for Ad-valorem duty on coal has been sought by many states. What is your view on this? The matter is under consideration of the Government. A committee appointed by the Planning commission is examining the present system vis-à-vis Ad-valorem. A comment at this stage shall not be proper.
The country is already self-reliant in non-coking coal segment. Nevertheless the high GDP growth rates are associated with concern of its sustainability. Well in time it was realized that incremental growth in the supply of energy is crucial for sustaining the GDP growth. Accordingly, the Integrated Energy Policy (IEP) Committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr. Kirit S. Parikh, Member Planning Commission. The committee has since submitted its report and has envisaged a major role for the coal sector to meet the country's growing energy needs in future. In a way this reinforces the earlier findings of the High Powered Fuel Policy committee set up in early seventies. The coal demand as projected in the IEP document is expected to rise at an accelerated pace and in 2031-32 be within the range of 1600 million tones (least coal consumption strategy) or 2600 million tones (continuing the present trend). As compared to current consumption of 460 million tonnes per annum, this represents a CAGR of 5.11 to 7.17 %. A CAGR of 6.05% shall be required to support coal consumption @ 2000 mtpa in 2031-32. The Public Enterprises in coal sector viz. Coal India Limited (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Ltd. (SCCL) accounts for 94% of current coal production of the country. With the adoption of a liberalized policy in allotting coal blocks to end users and its development through captive mining, other players are expected to come in the coal sector sooner than later. This will compliment the effort of the PSEs in meeting coal demand of the country. As a consequence, the country is expected to remain self-reliant in respect of thermal coal for all time to come. However, coking coal requirement will have to be met through imports to a substantial extent in the foreseeable future. 8/What innovations in terms of Technology and managements are in the offing ? In order to match the future demand of Coal, CIL has planned to introduce
high capacity Heavy Earth Moving Machinery in its Open cast Mines. CIL
has also a plans to open up large Underground Mines to meet the future
coal demand from Underground Mines in a big way. This will require technology
transfer from foreign countries. At present, CIL is using the Continuous
Miner technology and Power Support Long Wall (PSLW) in some of its Mines.
Applying these technologies in general and PSLW in particular for large
scale coal production (2 to 5 MT) shall require the expertise available
in foreign countries. Besides, CIL has future plan to install coal washeries
with state-of-the-art technology which will ensure supplying good quality
of coal to its consumers. Sanjeev Majupuria joins as Editor Sanjeev Majupuria has joined us as the Editor & Country Head of
<whispersinthecorridors.com> Hitherto Sanjeev was Resident Editor
with "The Pioneer", which he had joined as Senior Correspondent
on November 1,1991. A widely travelled Sanjeev Majupuria can be contacted Did 10 Janpath enquire on plans of Railways? Did Congress president Sonia Gandhi enquire from the Railway Miniser regarding decision of the Railway Ministry to opt for Vadodara instead of Bhopal for setting up Railway Electrical Locomotive Workshop? Well placed sources say that Ms Gandhi had questioned the decision in the wake of a news that was there on <whispersinthecorridors.com> on March 5,2007. Empanelment of 1974 batch IAS in May Empanelment of 1974 batch IAS officers to the rank of Secretary in
the Government of India is expected to take place in May. Dr Vatsa to be JS Urban Development Dr Rakesh Kumar Vatsa is being tipped to be the new Joint Secretary
in the Ministry of Urban Development. He is 1986 batch IAS officer of
West Bengal cadre. Virk to be DG CISF ? Four 1975 batch IAS officers yet to get posting Four empanelled IAS officers are still waiting in the wings to get posting in the Government of India to the rank of Additional Secretary. Banerjee is CVO of Coal India Nihar Ranjan Banerjee has taken over as CVO of the Coal India Ltd. He is 1981 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre. Dr Nilratna is JS Environment Dr B P Nilranta is new Joint Secretary, Forests and Environment, in
the Government of India. He is 1983 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh
cadre. Public -private partnership new mantra for ASI Among other things, public-private partnership seems to be the new
mantra to mobilize resources for monuments of the "Archaeological
Survey of India"(ASI).According to Minister for Tourism & Culture
Amibka Soni, such a possibility is being explored. The ASI has decided
to digitize its photo archives and rare books in the archaeological
library . Tension for UPA around ides of March March is not going to be any different from the month preceding it.
Terrorism, violence, accidents, natural calamities will again make headlines.
Bad news continue for the Finance Minister and those in Finance Ministry
and its institutions. Prices are unlikely to come down. A lot of explaining
will be needed and made ,but rejected, thus causing raised temper all
around. The UPA Government may face a very tough challenge from the
middle of March which will shake it like never before. A few state governments
may witness and pass through anxious moments and happenings. U P should
begin preparing for a new leadership but not before a great deal of
bickering, mud-slinging mixed with unashamed violence rock it. In brief,
no good time for administrators. Whose fate is sealed ? Who is going to suffer? Answer to this question will be known soon if one goes by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's indication during Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting yesterday. She had listed inflation as the main reason for Congress party's dismal performance in last month's assembly polls to three states. Goings on in Disaster Management Believe it or not, the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has got
three joint secretaries, one each Special Secretary and Additional Secretary
to look after Disaster Management funds. They also look after other
disaster management activities. Zee for three regional channels Zee TV is soon going to launch three regional Hindi channels - one each from Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Bihar & Jharkhand and UP & Uttaranchal. Indian Broadcasting Regulatory body likely An independent regulatory authority for broadcasting is on the anvil. It is there in the proposed Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill.However,there is no proposal to bring Indian cable TV homes under digital network. CISF to protect more public places As the grapevine has it,the CISF is going to get responsibilities to protect public places.As it is they have got job to take care of security at Agra located Taj Mahal and Delhi located Metro Rails.Indian Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh in a DO letter to DG of CISF on the occasion of CISF raising day has congratulated its DG, Ahmad for professionalism of the Force.Manmohanji has also asked CISF personnel to be ready to shoulder more responsibilities pertaining to personal security.
Vir Sanghvi and Peter Mukherjea have met Indian Minister duo Priya Ranjan Das Munshi and Pranab Mukherjee.Meetings took place in the Indian Parliament on Wednesday. IAS reshuffle in Madhya Pradesh There is IAS reshuffle in Madhya Pradesh. New postings are :- Mssrs Ms Snehlata Shrivastava Principal Secretary Higher Education,P D Meena Principal Secretary PWD and IT,Pravesh Sharma Principal Secretary Agriculture and Cooperation, On promotion as Principal SecretaryJ S Mathur Chief Election Commissioner , Raghav Chandra on promotion Commissioner Tribal Development,Devraj Virdi on promotion DG EPPCO and Administrator Capital Project,Rakesh Agrawal on promotion MD mineral Development Corporation,Ajit Kesari Secretary Public Health,Medical Education and Bhopal Gas Relief,Vinod Kumar Director Indian System of Medicine,Jabbar Dhakwala Additional Secretary Social Justice and Backward Classes,Santosh Mishra in place of Dhakwala andJohn Kingsley SDO Alirajpur. On return from central deputation Sudesh Kumar has been made Commissioner Scheduled Castes Welfare. Who will be ADG Intelligence Punjab ? Who will be new ADG Intelligence in Punjab ?.Names of Mssrs Shashi Kant ,Chandra Shekhar and Dr G D Pandey are currently doing the round. Aujla to be DG Vigilance ! In all probability 1970 batch IPS officer Dr G S Aujla will be new Director General of Vigilance in Punjab. Justice Gokhle is CJ of Allahabad HC Justice Hemant Laxman Gokhale is the new Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court. Karol is new Judge of Himachal Pradesh HC Sanjay Karol has been appointed new Judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. Justice Bhat resigns in Karnataka Justice U L Bhat one man commission set up to probe Mining irregularities
in Karnataka has resigned. FORUM (The views expressed in this column are necessarily of their respective contributors. We do not own any responsibility, whatsoever, about these contributions). Sonia Gandhi deserves credit on RTI issue She deserves all credit and encouragement on this issue. This is second
freedom for citizens of this country. But the irony is that Information
Commissioners should not have been bureaucrats in the first instance.
The same bureaucrats who imbibe the practice and follow discrimination
are incharge as umpires. Soniaji is right Sonia Gandhi is 100 per cent right in her thinking that retired officers who are being appointed Information Commissioners should not be appointed and only Judicial Working Judges be appointed on such posts. Also, I would request Sonia Ji to tell the Govrenment to only appoint the judicial Officers to the post of CAT. The Chairman should be Working Judge of the High Court and all the Vice Chairmen & members should be of the rank of District Judge. Ram Kumar Garg It,s shocking news It's shocking news that 40 commissioners were charge sheeted by one member . If merit of respective cases calls for action then the government must take action as per law or else punish the concerned member if the action smacks of vendetta or inefficiency. Discipline is a must in government but rules must be followed. Income tax department appears to be going ahead with transfer without any change in the earlier transfer policy which forced the officers waste the entire year fighting cases before CAT and High Court. A K Kumar TAIL-PIECE Army runs Pakistan, that everybody knows. Who runs India ?.Replied a Holi -reveller with a couple of Bhang gulps-Judiciary does India. Aaj Ki Aawaz Would you like India's next President to be acidic, bitter and rude??? Bharat Kumar --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bank EDs appointment to start Appointment letters of new Executive Directors of the banks are expected to be issued next week. Mittal to be ED Dena Bank ! General Manager of the Punjab National Bank B M Mittal is being appointed
Executive Director of the Dena Bank. No to 5 star hotels in Delhi? The ambitious plan of setting up four hotels, all five-Star, near Akshardham
in the national capital is now reportedly being shelved by the Delhi
Development Authority (DDA).As the grapevine has it, the decision stems
from the pressure by a large section of bureaucracy and judiciary who
are devotees of Swami Narayan. Hingorani to be Vice-President of SpiceJet Spice Jet has appointed Kamal Hingorani as its new VP (marketing &
Planning). He has moved from international Travel House. Bhattacharya is new country-head ProCurve Networking, a business unit of Hewlett Packard, has appointed
Subhodeep Bhattacharya as new Country Manager for its India Operations. Verghese appointed VC Koshy Verghese has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of Institute of Chartered
Financial Analysts of India University, Mizoram, Kusumba elected Member of APNIC Kusumba S has been elected member of the Executive Council of the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), Brisbane, Australia. |
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