State-owned Coal India Ltd's (CIL) supply of coal to the power sector increased by 6.7% to 336 million tonnes during the first 10 months of the ongoing fiscal amid the government aiming to provide round the clock electricity.

The company, which accounts for over 80% of the domestic coal production had dispatched 314.84 million tonnes (MT) of the dry fuel in the April-January period of the previous fiscal, the official data showed.

Coal India's bid to cut-down its expenses on wages and rationalise its manpower structure while pursuing the ministerial directive to produce 908.1 million tonne (mt) of coal by 2020 has resulted in the company resorting to massive outsourcing of labourers.

During April-December 2015, the state-owned coal behemoth had paid Rs. 22,069.67 crore to its 3,26,000 direct employees while Rs. 3,853.04 crore was spent on wages to an estimated 2,90,000 labourers and other staff who are under the pay-roll of contractors.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its subsidiaries are now looking to supply coal to consumers above the trigger level to clear its 40 million tonne pithead stock, without which it has to think of scaling down production.

The trigger level for the power sector, under the new coal distribution policy, was decided at 65% of the annual contracted quantity (ACQ), whereas the fuel supply agreements (FSAs) were signed for an ACQ of 65% of the total requirement.

Calcutta, Feb. 5: Coal India is setting up a joint venture with Indian Oil Corporation to manufacture bulk explosives used in open cast mining, which constitute 90 per cent of the PSU miner's production.

Coal India is likely to have a 50 per cent stake in the joint venture, which will become operational by March 2017.

State-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) today said its arm Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) has declared an interim dividend of Rs 2,758.45 crore for 2015-16.

The company said its other arm Central Coalfields Ltd has declared an interim dividend amounting to Rs 1,457 crore for the 9-month period ended December.

State-owned CIL is planning to acquire coal mines in South Africa in partnership with local government amid falling prices of assets globally as it gears up to meet the 1 billion output target,.

"Coal India has plans of acquiring coal mines in South Africa," an official said.

As Piyush Goyal, union coal and energy minister, remains firm on the decision to offload an additional 10% stake in Coal India, bringing down the government's share in the state-owned miner from the existing 79.65%, he is challenged with another outcry poised to break out March-end this year.

Four major trade unions affiliated with the Congress-backed INTUC and the Leftist CITU, AITUC and HMS together — representing about 80 % of the miner's workforce — have consented to a series of action plan to protest the disinvestment move as well as force the government to address key issues related to contractual workers.

KOLKATA: Five central trade unions representing almost 90% of the workmen of Coal India have served a notice to the coal major's management for a day's str-ike on March 29 to protest disinvestment in the largest coal producer. The strike will also be observed at Singareni Collieries Company.

According to a statement jointly released by INTUC, BMS, HMS, AITUC and CITU there would be joint demonstration on February 19 followed by work to rule from March 7 to 10 and a day's strike on March 29.

On a technical overhaul drive, domestic coal giant CIL will spend Rs 200 crore initially on various areas including electronic fencing of mines on the lines of practices in advanced nations like US and Australia.

The technical upgradation includes fitting all trucks meant for carrying coal with GPS tracking devices within a month to check plunder of the dry-fuel.

New Delhi: Increased output by Coal India Ltd (CIL) has resulted in savings of about Rs.17,000 crore and the state-run miner is set for a record production of 550 million tonnes (MT) this fiscal, coal secretary Anil Swarup said.

Coal India is the single largest producer of dry fuel in the world and the government has set a target of doubling its production to 1 billion tonnes by 2020.

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