The Centre plans to increase the capacity of the Gevra Mega project in Chhattisgarh of South Eastern Coalfields (SECL) from 50 million tonne of coal production in a year to 70 million tonne, making it Asia's largest coal-producing mine in Asia.
The Gevra Mega project is currently the largest coal-producing mine in the country and is in second position in the Asia-pacific region.
On his two-day visit to Raipur, Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena held a high-level review meeting with top officials of the Chhattisgarh government.
In a statement released on Saturday, the coal ministry informed that the meeting deliberated on issues related to SECL's operations including environmental clearances, forest clearances, land acquisition, cooperation from the state government for rehabilitation and resettlement for SECL's mega projects like Gevra, Dipka and Kusmunda
The need for time-bound completion of the projects with effective coordination with the state government and other stakeholders was especially emphasised by the coal secretary.
The meeting was focused on the evacuation of coal from the Korba and Mand-Raigarh coalfields. Senior functionaries from both SECR and SECL were also present during the discussions.
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The officials also discussed issues pertaining to SECL's coal dispatch, availability of railway rakes, rail projects of SECL, among others, in detail.
The Centre plans to make the Gevra Mega project into Asia's largest coal-producing mine. The Gevra Mega project is owned by SECL. SECL is a state-owned miniratna company and Coal India is its parent company.
Indonesia's Sangatta Mine in East Kalimantan, was the largest surface coal-producing mine in the Asia-Pacific region, producing approximately 49.2 million tonnes of coal and an estimated 51.4 million metric tons per annum (mmtpa) of Run-of-Mine (ROM) in 2021.
