Coal news and updates

Coal theft not a big issue at MCL: Sahay

June 26: Coal theft is not a big issue for Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) as the volume lost is not significant, company chairman-cum-managing director A N Sahay said.

“In MCL, coal theft is not that rampant. Sometimes we find some headloads and scooters moving around, but we sort of ignore it. On some occasions, we do catch hold of these people. Sometimes they take it for own consumption, while at other times they sell it outside. But the volume is not much,” Sahay told ICMW.

“In IB Valley, however, I have reports that coal theft is increasing. I heard there are some illegal mining going on at Talabira coal mine, which belongs to Hindalco. But I do not know much about it. It is quite far from our area. Sometimes we find some trucks moving out,” he said.

As a precautionary measure, Sahay said, “We are going for Global Positioning System (GPS) in trucks. Also, geo-fencing will be done so that any truck movement outside that fence is automatically signalled by the system.”