Electricity to the country at a “fair price”: Chief of Coal India

According to Pramod Agrawal, the chief of Coal India Limited, the coal behemoth should endeavour to provide electricity to the country at a “fair price”.

More than 80 percent of the domestic coal supply comes from Coal India (CIL), while coal-based power generation accounts for 75 percent of the nation’s total electricity production.

The chairman and managing director of CIL, Agrawal, recently sent a message to his staff in which he stated that “our role is to supply assured energy at affordable costs.”

He claimed that the corporation has a bigger obligation because the country has a sizable potential for energy expansion in the coming decades.

“Aim for even loftier heights in the last quarter of the financial year and make FY23 momentous by shattering the annual targets as well. And, not rest there. Once we achieve 700 MT production target that should be a benchmark base for further growth,” he said.

Agrawal urged the staff to work together to relentlessly commit to achieving the nation’s development and energy goals.

“All the three performance parameters — production of 479 MTs (million tonnes), supplies of 508 MTs and OBR of 1,155 M, Cu.M, till December, were ahead of the respective progressive targets. What makes this milestone special is the formidable scale of targets, which we were able to breach. However, much more needs to be done,” the message said.

A billion tonnes of coal will be produced by CIL by 2025–2026 as opposed to the original projection of 2023–2024 due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

According to earlier estimates from the coal ministry, CIL’s output of coal for the current fiscal year is anticipated to reach 700 MT, with an additional 200 MT of production coming from other sources.

(With inputs from PTI)