The Union Minister of Railways, Finance, Corporate Affairs and Coal, Piyush Goyal inaugurated the MAHAGENCO Pipe Conveyor System for coal transportation from cluster of mines of Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) today. The work commencement ceremony held in Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s Suresh Bhat Auditorium was also witnessed by Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Water Resources, Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis. Chairman Railway Board Shri Ashwani Lohani and Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development Shri Mishra were also present on the occasion.The first Pipe Conveyor project of 6.3 Km length is a dedicated system for Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station of MAHAGENCO by taking coal from Bhatadi OC mine, Chandrapur Area and feeding to MGR at Padmapur. The second project of approx. 20 Km length will have five feeding Open Cast Mines of Nagpur Area of WCL, namely Gondegaon, Kamptee, Inder, Bhanegaon and Singhori dedicated to Khaparkheda and Koradi Power Plants of Maharashtra State Power Generation Co. Ltd. (MSPGCL).
This project is being carried out in two phases. On completion of this project, road transportation of coal will be stopped and 100 per cent coal production from these mines of WCL will be transported through Koradi & Khaperkheda Coal pipe conveyor.The pipe conveyor system is a step in the direction of developing a modern, efficient and eco-friendly mode of coal transportation from mines of WCL to the Pit head Power stations of MAHAGENCO, Maharashtra State Power Generation Co. Ltd. (MSPGCL) has taken up the installation of Pipe Conveyor System through WCL acquired land. This dedicated coal transportation system will be first of its kind in Coal India Limited (CIL). It will go a long way in mitigating environmental impact of Road Transport by eliminating dispersed coal dust & vehicular emissions. It will also help in avoiding coal pilferage and facilitate assured quality & quantity of supply of coal to power plants at lower transport costs.