Ranchi: Union Minister of Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi on Thursday said death of any employee of Coal India due to Corona Pandemic will be treated as accidental death and the kins of employee will get the same financial benefits as they get in the case of accidental death during duty.
Around 04 Lakh odd on roll and contractor’s workers of Coal India will get benefited from this decision. The kin of employees deceased from Covid so far will also get protected he said during a virtual interaction with the media from Ranchi Airport.
He said that employees of Coal India are putting their lives in danger and have performed a tremendous job during Covid pandemic. They are relentlessly doing a good job. That is why I proudly call them Coal Warriors. I have announced this benefit just to recognize their invaluable service to the nation, ” Mr Joshi said.
He further said that a cheque of Rs 250 crore was given to Chief Minister Hemant Soren against the Government land. He said earlier Rs 48 crore was given to the state government by CCL.
The Minister also said that commercial coal mining is going to fuel development in Jharkhand in the coming years. Under the commercial auction of 09 coal mines in Jharkhand, the State is expected to earn more than Rs 3,200 crores in 1-year as revenue and almost 50,000 additional employment will be generated for the people of the state, additionally, Jharkhand’s contribution to DMF will be around Rs 17 crores which can be used for the development of regions around coalfield areas.
To a query he said that response of commercial mining auction is very good. “Specially in Jharkhand we are getting 5 to 10 bidders for almost all of the mines put on auction. The state will get benefited from it and it will chart a new chapter of growth in the state,” Mr Joshi said.
Stressing upon the need of commencement of commercial coal mining he said India still meets a fifth of its annual coal requirement through imports. Once commercial mining picks up, imports by independent thermal power plants and captive power plants are likely to be substituted, saving in potential import bill of around Rs 30,000 crore per every year also, it will help in providing employment to more than 3 lakh direct and indirect manpower.
Highlighting the importance of mining for Jharkhand, Mr Joshi said that mining is the lifeline of Jharkhand and plays crucial role in its development.
He said that Jharkhand is the only state in the country to have 3 coal companies simultaneously excavating coal out of its mineral-rich soil. Coal companies CCL, BCCL and ECL are expected to mine out 742 million tonne (MT) of coal in the next 4 years, paying revenue of almost Rs 18,889 crores. The State earned almost Rs. 4000 crores every year during the last 4 years which is around Rs 16,000 crores he said adding that Coal India Limited (CIL), pays about 30 percent of its total royalty to Jharkhand alone while the share of production from Jharkhand is about 20 percent.
The minister said that annual revenue of Rs 6,564 crore is expected to accrue to the Jharkhand Government from the coal mines allocated under CMSP Act additionally, CIL will invest more than Rs 37,000 crores by 2023-24 in Jharkhand to build its infrastructure.