In the FY 22-23, 772 dependents were given jobs which is highest in the last ten years.
Emphasis on increasing production through mechanization along with employment
Bilaspur (thestates.news)| Operating in the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh India’s second largest coal producing company, SECL has ensured employment to people on a large scale in the last three years. In the last three years, the company has given jobs to a total of 2,557 people including dependents, land oustees, and through direct recruitment. Out of the total figure, 1,299 dependents have been given jobs, 1,209 land oustees have got employment, while about 49 people have been given jobs through direct recruitment. At the same time, in the last three years, on an average, more than 17,000 contract workers have also benefited by getting employment from companies associated with SECL every year.
At a time when coal industry across the world is rapidly moving towards mechanization, these figures assume great significance. There has been a huge increase in the demand for electricity in India and it will see further increase, which is directly related to the coal production because to meet the increasing demand of electricity, coal production will also have to be increased. High coal production in less time is not possible without mechanization. Under Coal India, SECL has also incorporated modern techniques in coal mining such as surface miner, continuous miner, highwall mining, etc., which have not only proved to be very useful in increasing production, but with their help, environment-friendly coal mining has become possible.
Talking about the last financial year 22-23, the company has achieved the highest total coal production of 167 million tonnes in its history, out of which 155 million tonnes of coal was extracted from opencast mines and 11 million tonnes from underground mines. Out of the total opencast production, 113.8 million tonnes of coal was produced with the help of surface miner, which was 73% of the total production, while 5.9 million tonnes of coal was produced in underground mines with the help of continuous miner and highwall mining techniques, which was 51% of the total production.
Apart from direct employment, a record 2,908 youth have been provided apprenticeship training by SECL in various trades including mining in the last three years. Between the years 2020-21 and 2022-23, youth have been trained by SECL in mining engineering, mine survey, civil, electrical, mechanical etc. trades. Under the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS) and National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) of the Government of India, thousands of youth of the region are benefiting from the training they are getting from SECL. At the same time, through CSR, the company has also given skill development training to more than 1000 youth of the coal belt through Central Institute of Petrochemical Engineering and Technology (CIPET), Korba and Raipur and after getting training, the youth have been successful in getting jobs in various institutions.
While the training received in SECL is giving the youth an opportunity to use the technical education received in the school-college in the field, the experience gained here is also opening doors for employment in private and public sector companies for the students.
