Kolkata, 18 December 2025: The Chairman, Coal India Limited Shri B. Sairam, Visited the subsidiary, Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) and inspected operations at the Sonepur Bazari, Kenda, Kunustoria, Bankola and Jhanjra Areas.
At the Sonepur Bazari Area, Shri Sairam reviewed mining operations and interacted with the Area General Manager and his team on operational performance, coal quality, on-ground challenges and workforce engagement. He also felicitated the outstanding employees and interacted with the contractual workers.
Sonepur Bazari is a strategic area for ECL and has produced 6.9 million tonnes of coal so far during the ongoing fiscal. Coal for Coal Gas India Limited’s (CGIL) upcoming Coal-to-Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) project, will be supplied entirely from the Sonepur Bazari mine.
The Chairman also inspected operations at the New Kenda opencast mine in Kenda Area; North Searsole highwall mining operations at Narayankuri opencast mine in Kunustoria Area, and the Nakrakonda Kumardihi-B opencast mine in Bankola Area. The visit broadly focused on on-site inspections covering production, productivity, supply of quality coal, safety, and the adoption of advanced mining technologies.
The visit of Shri Sairam concluded with an inspection of the Jhanjra underground mine and a review meeting with all Area General Managers of ECL, held through video conferencing, from the Jhanjra Area. He also interacted with members of the Corporate JCC. Jhanjra is the top coal producing underground mine of Coal India. This highly mechanized mine has so far produced 2.17 million tonnes of coal in this financial year.
Shri Satish Jha, CMD, ECL, along with senior management of ECL and Coal India, accompanied Chairman during the visit.
