The Hindu Business Line : `Human lapses may have caused Bharat Coking Coal accident'

The Chairman of Coal India Ltd (CIL), Mr Shashi Kumar, has said that the recent accident at the Bhatdee underground coal mine of Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) resulting in the death of 50 persons could have been avoided if the rules of business (mine rules) were strictly followed.

He suspected certain human lapses behind the accident. However, he declined to elaborate, as a committee was probing the reasons behind the accident.

Mr Kumar told newspersons that there were 14 or 15 "degree three" underground mines in BCCL and Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL), which are operationally unsafe. All these mines have reserves of quality coal.

He ruled out any plan to close down these unsafe mines. On the contrary, he wanted technical experts to find out ways to make these mine safe so that the remaining reserve of quality coal in these mines could be extracted.

Earlier, the CIL Chairman inaugurated a workshop on `Turnaround Stories of Coal Companies and Future Strategies', organised by the Mining, Geological & Metallurgical Institute of India (MGMI). The Chairman and Managing Director of BCCL, Mr P.S. Bhatacharjee, and the ECL CMD, Mr Deepak Chakraborty, presented papers explaining how their respective `sick' companies had a turnaround within less than two years. Mr Kumar praised CEOs of both the companies for their achievements.

`Revival strategy'

Although BCCL reported a loss of about Rs 569 crore and a cash loss of about Rs 209 crore in 2003-04, Mr Bhattacharjee said that the turnaround in less than two years from a near bankruptcy situation had been made possible through dedicated and sustained pursuit of a revival strategy.

The approach was focused on (a) enhancing production of high value coking coal and washed coal, (b) internalising premium on coal marketed to non-core sector through e-marketing and (c) arresting/reversing the trend of persistent decline in coal production since 1999-2000. He said that the company had set a target to turn its net worth positive by 2010-11.

On the other hand, Mr Chakraborty said that the success of the company's revival plan was entirely dependent on timely implementation of future projects, suspension of unviable operation and providing suitable manpower. He said that the company was confident to come out of Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction by 2007-08.