Coal news and updates

MCL likely to see 10 mt shortfall in coal output

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), which has been given a steep target of 150 million tons (mt) in 2015-16, is expected to end up with a shortfall of 10 mt, a top company official told ICMW.

“There is a chance that we could fall short of the target by about 10 mt. MCL is expected to achieve around 140 mt of coal production and offtake with a growth of around 15% in financial year 2015-16,” the company’s Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) A K Jha said.

He said that reasons for this shortfall could be the dearth of land availability, issue of forestry clearance particularly due to NOC under FRA 2006 in projects like Ananta, Kaniha and Lajkura, R&R/law and order problems in projects like Hingula and Balram this fiscal.

MCL has achieved total production of 123.85 mt during April-February 2015-16, which was 92% of the target of 134.16 mt set for the period.