KOLKATA: Faced with the task of achieving its highest-ever growth rate of 43 per cent in production during the Eleventh Plan as compared to 30 per cent in the current Plan, Coal India Ltd (CIL) has finalised a strategy which envisages, among other things, complete outsourcing of all operations in the new mines.

Sources said that during the Eleventh Plan, beginning 2007, CIL is required to achieve a production growth of 157 million tonnes as compared to 84 million tonnes growth achieved during the Tenth Plan ending in 2006-07.

The sources said CIL envisaged taking up 120 projects with an ultimate capacity of 240 million tonnes during the Eleventh Plan, to contribute 70 million tonnes in 2011-12. Admitting that even with this stepped up production, the country's coal demand could not be met, the sources said that with technology updating and outsourcing, production could be augmented.

Outsourcing, which has run into controversy often mainly from the company's unions, has been tried almost in all the CIL subsidiaries.

While coal production has been outsourced in many mines of Mahanadi Coalfields, South Eastern Coalfields and Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, in Western Coalfields overburden removal from the opencast mines has been sourced out. At Eastern Coalfields and Central Coalfields, steps have been initiated to introduce outsourcing.

Referring to the technological inputs that would be a key in achieving a production level of 520.5 million tonnes by 2010-11 against 363.8 million tonnes in 2006-07, the sources said that along with harnessing large equipment for pumping up the output of opencast mines, it was important to formulate strategies for stepping up underground production, given the fact that opencastable reserves will not last beyond 50-60 years.

CIL plans to mechanise all its underground mines by 2017 and go in for mass production technologies. In 2006-07, the underground mines are set to produce about 46.27 million tonnes, will which increase to 54.6 million tonnes in 2010-11. The production from opencast mines is targeted to increase to 465.9 million tonnes from 317.5 million tonnes over the same period.

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