New Delhi: Acting on the clarion call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to develop ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ in post Covid-19 world, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) as well as start-ups have begun taking initiatives in this regard.

Coal India Ltd (CIL), one of the biggest PSUs in coal sector has announced that it will invest over Rs 1.22 lakh crore to develop 500 projects over next few years. These would be related to coal evacuation, infrastructure, project development, exploration and clean coal technologies in the country, thereby creating lakhs of jobs and employment in the process.

The investment aims at making India self-reliant in terms of coal and achieve the production target of 1 billion tonnes by 2023-2024.

Addressing a stakeholders meet organized by CIL, Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi said involvement of all concerned stakeholders in company’s affairs will reduce and uncover the project risks.

He informed that the national miner, CIL, will be investing around Rs 14,200 crore over next 3 to 4 years, in two phases for its 49 First Mile Connectivity projects.

First Mile Connectivity is the transportation of coal from pitheads to dispatch points. Computer-aided loading technology of coal is being developed to replace the existing methodology of transportation via road.

Coal India has also identified 15 greenfield projects which will be operated under the Mine Developer and Operator (MDO) model. Overall nearly 34 thousand 600 crore rupees will be invested through this route.

In the meeting, Coal India also announced an array of measures for relaxations and exemptions for greater participation of its stakeholders. The experience criteria has been brought down from 65 per cent to 50 per cent for mining tenders, while work experience criteria are relaxed by 50 per cent in turnkey contracts.