Highest safety will be taken in coal mines: Piyush Goyal

Piyush Goyal, who is in charge of the ministry of coal, power and renewable resources, flew down to the city to review the safety measures and processes in Coal India Limited and all its subsidiaries following the accident that occurred in a coalfield the previous week.

According to the minister, 18 bodies were recovered till date, as the rescue operation is still going on.

Goyal said: “I discussed the roadmap for future today, at a meeting with CII (The Confederation of Indian Industry) to ensure high level safety in the coal mines and zero accident.”

He added: “We are committed to spending more money to buy modern equipment to prevent such accidents further.”

The minister informed that he had ordered to carry out a safety audit in all mines by DGMS(Directorate General of Mines Safety) along with any expert from outside the government.

“I have asked CII to examine the causes and strongest and strictest actions will be taken if any faulty is found” Goyal assured.

Rs 5 lakh was given as compensation to all 18 families who had lost their family members in the accident.

Goyal stressed on the scheme UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana) to strengthen the state companies and said that several states have already joined the scheme.

He said: “The country has surplus power and coal. So there is no shortage of power. If farmers do not get adequate power, it is the state who will have to buy it and supply.”

The minister upheld the government’s huge role behind the reduction in procurement price of LED lights “even without subsidy.” 

Goyal claimed that around 43-44 crore LEDs so far were sold all over India, out of which slightly more than 7 lakhs from Bengal.

He added: “I urge the people of Bengal to replace their old incandescent lights with LEDs and definitely consumers would get the pay back of its price within 3 months.”

(Reporting by Souvik Ghosh)