Coal news and updates

Secretary (Coal) meets CMDs of CIL subsidiary

June 17: The Secretary (Coal), Government of India, S K Srivastava, on June 17 had a marathon meeting with all the Chairman and Managing Directors of all the subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd (CIL) in Kolkata and apparently discussed ways to increase production to achieve 2014-15 production and despatches target of 507 million tons (mt) and 520 mt respectively, sources said.

Incidentally, CIL Chairman S Narsing Rao, who has already submitted his resignation last month, was not present in the meeting, which started at around 1200 noon and continued till 1800 hours, sources said.

What transpired in the meeting was not exactly known immediately, but sources said that  “The Secretary (Coal) took overview of the situation in the company in absence of existing chairman and asked all the CMD’s of the subsidiary companies to stick to basics and chalk out strategies to achieve the production and off-take targets.”

“In a way it was kind of an overview of total operations in the company, especially as existing Chairman is not attending office after submitting resignation,” the sources said.

Meanwhile, a source in Ministry of Coal told ICMW form Delhi that Rao is yet to be relieved from his current position as of 1400 hours of June 17.

“There is no order as of now on acceptance of Rao’s resignation and on appointment of any interim-Chairman for CIL,” the source added.