Singareni plans to mine 16 million tonnes of coal in first quarter of current fiscal

CMD of Singareni Collieries N. Balaram at a meeting with senior executives of the company in Hyderabad on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: By Arrangement

HYDERABAD

The Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) has set itself a modest target of mining 16 million tonnes of coal in the first quarter of 2025-26. It has also decided to hand over the management of an opencast and an underground mine to the women executives, starting with running one shift purely with women workers.

At a meeting with Area General Managers held virtually from Hyderabad on Saturday, Chairman and Managing Director of the coal company N. Balaram said that it was decided to remove at least 120 million cubic metres of overburden during the April-June period.

According to company officials, coal mined by the company in the first quarter of 2024-25 was 16.71 million tonnes and in 2023-24, it was 17.1 million tonnes. The total production achieved in 2024-25 was 69 million tonnes and a year before, it was 70 million tonnes.

In April (2025-26), the company could mine 4.99 million tonnes of coal and dispatch 5.81 million tonnes against 5.48 million tonnes and 5.66 million tonnes, respectively, in 2024-25. The CMD stated that there was a growth of 2.7% in coal dispatches this April compared to April 2024.

Similarly, the overburden removal in April was 10.6% higher compared to April last year as 40 million cubic meters of overburden was removed this year against 36.18 million cubic meters in April last year.

He instructed the authorities concerned to select the supervisory staff needed for the Naini coal block in Odisha with a plan to position them there in a month’s time. He also wanted the authorities to post most of the new employees in underground mines.

He cautioned the authorities against compromising on the quality of coal being dispatched stating that it would affect the sales and drive away consumers.

Directors of the company D. Satyanarayana Rao (E&M), L.V. Suryanarayana (Operations), K. Venkateshwarlu (Projects & Personnel) and other senior executives participated in person.