There will be a whopping 600 million tonne annual coal production in Talcher coalfield by both Mahanadi coalfield Limited (MCL) and non-MCL companies by 2030, said the new MCL CMD, Mr Bholanath Shukla.

Addressing a press conference in Talcher he said Talcher coalfield which is producing 100 million tonnes of coal per year now will post a production of 300 million tonnes by the end of 2030.There are many players other than MCL which are taking blocks in the western part of the coalfield and those will produce 300 million. Together there will be 600 million tonnes from the coalfield alone. He said that there will be about 200 villages in the locality to be displaced due to coal mining.

“Due attention is being given with chalking out plans to evacuate these amounts of coal by laying railways in the region,” he added

The CMD after taking over charge on Friday visited Puri on Saturday. On Sunday he visited some coalmines here and held talks with all the stake holders concerned. The CMD said that he is planning meticulously for MCL to grow very rapidly so as to produce 300 million within the next five years itself.

The plans are under way for the hassle free production of coal and picking up techniques to augment coal production. Shukla said that he will stress for the speedy disposal of the demands of land oustees in the most transparent way.

He disclosed each year the coal company gives Rs 610 crore to the district mineral fund. Expressing his confidence to achieve the targeted coal production of MCL which stands at 162 million tonne this year he sought cooperation from the people, state government and all stake holders. The MCL Director (Finance) KR Basudavan and the general manager of Jaganath area MG Brahmapurkar were present.