The Silicon Review ^Asia

Coal India’s exploration arm, Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Ltd (CMPDIL), will soon receive INR 1,240 crore from the Centre towards the exploration of coal blocks that will be auctioned to commercial coal miners.

Earlier, the monetary allocation was INR 250 crore for exploration of non-Coal India blocks. The amount had substantially increased from the earlier years, thanks to the opening up of commercial coal mining. Other activities like methane drainage from coal bed methane projects and application of drones arealsobeing supported now by the Centre.

CMPDIL’s chairman and managing director, Shekhar Saran had admitted that the funds are being provided under a Central sector scheme to expedite exploration. It will also help in the development of the coal ministry by making available blocks with the necessary exploration data. Saran stated that the company will soon achieve its target of drilling 14 lakh for this financial year. As of December 2019, the company had already drilled 8.91 lakh meters.

The results of the efforts of CMPDI are42 draft environment mine planning, 12 geological reports and 32 coal mining project reports. A total of 188 reports had been prepared till December, 2019.