Coal news and updates

Coal Controllers’ Office set for major overhaul

The Ministry of Coal (MoC) has approved a proposal for a complete overhaul and restructuring of the Coal Controllers’ Office (CCO) to improve the monitoring capabilities this of Kolkata-based organisation, a senior official said.

“The proposal of restructuring the CCO has been approved by the Ministry of Coal which will allow us to directly recruit resources instead of hiring them from various government-owned coal mining companies on deputation,” the newly-appointed Coal Controller, Anjani Kumar, told Coal Insights, a sister publication of ICMW.

Incidentally, a proposal for restructuring of the CCO on the lines of the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) had been prepared by the Indian School of Mines (ISM) in 2013.

The ISM’s proposal had been studied in detail and, after a number of meetings, it has been approved by the current government at the Centre, Kumar said, adding, “Coal Secretary Anil Swarup took special initiatives to ensure that the proposal sails through.”

Following the approval by the Ministry of Coal, the coal controller has been asked to prepare a recruitment rule for 178 positions, including 156 new positions, which will then be forwarded to the Ministry of Finance for its approval.

On approval from the Ministry of Finance, the restructuring process will be implemented and the recruitment drive will commence.

“With the approval of the proposal, all eight regional offices of the CCO will have additional 14-15 employees that will give us the necessary wherewithal to do our job in a much more structured way,” Kumar said.

The CCO’s offices were severely understaffed which was affecting its monitoring capabilities over the past few years, industry sources said.

Among other things, the CCO is responsible for monitoring the progress made by coal mining companies, including captive coal blocks. It also certifies the grade of coal that is mined in any block in the country.

Kumar explained that, as per the approval, the CCO office will now have a Joint Coal Controller, Deputy Coal Controller, Director (Statistics), Director (Electrical & Mechanical), Deputy Director (Administration), Director (CVO), Deputy Director (Computer and System), Director (Quality Control and Laboratories), Deputy Director (Electrical & Mechanical), Deputy Director (Finance), Deputy Director (Legal & Administration) among others.

Asked how the functioning at the regional offices of the CCO will improve following implementation of the new proposal, the Coal Controller said, at present, in each of the eight field offices or regional offices of the CCO, there is only one officer on special duty (OSD) who is supported by two junior officials and that severely limits its operational capabilities.

But once the new approval is implemented, the field offices will be headed by one deputy coal controller who will be assisted by one assistant coal controller (mining), and one ACC each in quality and sampling, engineering and geology, apart from sampling officers, analytical officers and miner supervisors, he explained.

“Basically, we will have an organisational structure of our own. This will lead to a sharp improvement in our operational capabilities and functioning,” Kumar added.