Sambalpur: A seminar on ‘improving safety standards in blasting and blast performance’ was organised on Thursday here at Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), the leading coal producer and supplying company in the country.
The seminar was inaugurated by Mr PK Sinha, Chairman-cum-managing Director, MCL & Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL), in the presence of Mr OP Singh, Director (Technical/Operations), Mr KR Vasudevan, Director (Finance), Mr Baban Singh, Director (Technical/Projects & Planning), Mr Subrata Shekhar Sinha, Director (Technical/Projects & Planning), NCL and members of Safety Board from the trade unions.
In his inaugural address, Mr PK Sinha, emphasised on the importance of the safety standards in coal mining operations. Blasting is an important part of the operations, the CMD said while stressing on the need to improve efficiency of explosives with due regard to safety of men and machinery.
Highlighting the importance of coal in the energy sector, Mr Sinha said that innovation is the need of the hour to simplify mining processes and optimise productivity to meet the rising demand of dry fuel.
Prof GK Pradhan, Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, AKS University, delivered the keynote address.
The CMD also released the Diamond Jubilee Special Number of The Indian Mining & Engineering Journal on seminar “Improving the Safety Standards in Blasting and Blast Performance”.
There were two technical sessions, in which 11 technical papers were presented by executives of MCL and the Explosive Suppliers.
A large number of executives from the coalfields of MCL and NCL, Singrauli (MP) joined the seminar through video-conference.
