Amrit Lal Meena, Secretary, Ministry of Coal, on Sunday said that the city-based Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) will soon develop hydro-electricity generation plants under the ambitious ‘Pump Storage Project’ (PSP) at four to five de-coaled (defunct) mines located in Pench area in adjoining Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh. Addressing a press meet here, Meena said the project is aimed at making optimum use of WCL’s de-coaled. Through the PSP, the public sector undertaking will utilize solar energy to develop hydroelectricity promoting sustainable development in the coal mining sector. The initiative aims to harness solar energy during the day and generation of hydro-electricity at night. Meena, who was in the city to attend the ‘Khasdar Audyogik Mahotsav’, visited Rawanwara, Pench East, Sethia, Shivpuri and Haranbhata open cast mines of Pench area on Saturday to explore the possibilities of implementation of the project.

 

There are about 15 to 18 mines of WCL which fall under the de-coaled category and at some locations ‘not in use’ opencast mines have turned into huge water bodies. Apart from this, Meena also highlighted the recently announced policies of the Government saying that the WCL will soon attract private players to start coal gasification plant in the Majri area. “As the Government has recently announced incentives for coal gasification projects, we hope to see entrepreneurs coming forward in this field,” he said. It is important to note that there were no takers for the Majri gasification plant and thus the much-hyped project failed to start. It was supposed to be operational in the current year. Chairman of Coal India Limited P M Prasad; Chairman and Managing Director of WCL Manoj Kumar; and others were also present.