RailEnquiry

RANCHI: Pressing demand for increase in coal production to meet the need of power and steel companies of the country, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has intervened to expedite ambitious coal mining projects of the Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) in Jharkhand.The PMO has constituted a committee, headed by the Railway Board chairman, to ensure quick construction of Shibpur-Tori line that will help evacuating at least 100 million tonnes of coal per annum from North Karanpura coalfields in Hazaribagh district. The project is pending for almost 10 years and has affected coal production target of the CCL. At present, production capacity of the CCL is around 55 million tonnes. Chairman-cum-managing director of the CCL Gopal Singh said recently he met with deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and with his help approached the PMO. "I am happy that the urgency of the rail line was accepted by the deputy chairman and the PMO. A high-powered committee has been constituted under the chairman of Railway Board that will expedite the construction of rail line," said Singh.Sources in the CCL said the company had been running from pillar to post for the past one decade because unless the railway line is constructed, evacuation of such huge quantity of coal would not be possible. "We even changed the original rail line as it was passing through the dense forest on the directive of the Union forest and environment ministry yet the project could not take off which forced us to approach the PMO," said a source.

The proposed railway line between Shibpur and Kathotia will not only pass through less dense forest but also reduce the running distance by around 25-30 km and connect Koderma. "We hope that with intervention of the PMO and construction of railway line our two opencast mines Magadh and Amrapali will become operational very soon," said the source.