Minister of State for Coal and Mines Satish Chandra Dubey laid the foundation stone of Karo Coal Handling Plant and Konar Coal Handling Plant projects in Bokaro and Kargali areas of CCL yesterday. The capacity of these two plants is 7 million tonne per annum and 5 million tonne per annum respectively. Giridih MP Shri Chandra Prakash Chaudhary, Bermo MLA Shri Kumar Jayamangal (Anoop Singh), Coal India Limited Chairman Shri PM Prasad, CCL CMD Shri Nilendu Kumar Singh, senior CCL officials, trade union representatives and other stakeholders were present on the occasion. Shri Dubey also planted a sapling on the occasion of the foundation stone laying ceremony of Konar Plant under the “Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam” campaign.
The First Mile Rail Connectivity facility in Karo and Konar Coal Handling Plant projects will prove to be an important step towards transporting the coal produced from the coal mines to the nearest railway circuit. Coal will be transported from the railway circuit to thermal power plants and other consumers across the country. At present, coal from these mines is brought to the railway siding by road.
Konar Coal Handling Plant: This plant includes hopper, crusher, coal storage bunker of 10000 tonne capacity and 1.6 km long conveyor belt. Through this belt, coal will be transported to railway wagons through silo bunker of 1000 tonne storage capacity. The cost of this project of 5 million tonnes per annum capacity is Rs 322 crore. With the start of this project, the current rake loading time will be reduced from 5 hours to 1 hour, which will speed up coal dispatch and increase the availability of rake.
Karo Coal Handling Plant: This plant includes hopper, crusher, coal storage bunker of 15000 tonne capacity and one kilometer long conveyor belt. With the help of this belt, coal will be loaded into railway wagons from silo bunker of 4000 tonne storage capacity. The cost of this project of 7 million tonnes per annum capacity is Rs 410 crore. With the commissioning of this project, the present rake loading time will be reduced from 5 hours to 1 hour thereby speeding up the dispatch of coal.
The introduction of mechanised systems will eliminate the need for transporting coal by road and will increase speed and efficiency in dispatch of coal and thus reduce diesel consumption. This system will also help in reducing dust and vehicular pollution in the area.
