Innovation, Augmentation, Social Responsibility : The Thrust Areas For NLCIL In This “Amrit Kaal” Of India : Prasanna Kumar Motupalli, CMD, NLCIL

Neyveli, Jan 26 The 74^th Republic Day of the Nation was celebrated at NLCIL with customaryfervour and enthusiasm. Prasanna Kumar Motupalli, CMD, NLCIL, unfurled the tricolor at Bharathi Stadium, Neyvelion behalf of the company in the presence of Functional Directors, Senior Officers, CISF officials, representatives of recognized Trade Unions, Associations representing Engineers & Officers, SC/ST, ST, OBC associations and women employees. K. Mohan Reddy, Director (P&P) and HR (AC) delivered the welcome address. Earlier, Prasanna Kumar garlanded the statue of Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi at the Township Administration office.

Addressing the gathering, Prasanna Kumar recalled the contributions of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of Indian Constitution, while paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and the freedom fighters and martyrs. He recalled the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, in this “Amrit Kaal” from the 75^th year of India’s independence to the centenary year, to take India towards a futuristic, prosperous, inclusive and developed society, distinguished by a human-centric approach at its core, with the G20 Presidency marking the beginning.

In this backdrop, as a central public sector unit partnering the progress of nation building, Prasanna Kumar affirmed NLCIL’s role in the growth of the Power sector to support the economic development of India. NLCIL had spread its wings from Tamil Nadu to other five States across India and made strategic diversification into Coal Mining, Coal based power generation with forays into renewable energy sector – Wind and Solar in a big way.NLCIL hadalso entered into strategic collaboration with many power sector players, thus guaranteeing a sustainable future, he said.

Identifying augmentation, innovation and social responsibility as the thrust areas for NLCIL, he outlined NLCIL’s plant to raise the Lignite mining capacity to 40.10 MTPA by the year 2030, the Coal mining capacity to 44.0 MTPA, thermal power generating capacity to 11140 MW and the renewable power generating capacity to 6031 MW thereby raising the total capacity to 17171 MW.

Prasanna Kumar stated that NLCIL had embarked upon three innovative projects at Neyveli, Tamil Nadu, viz. 0.4 MTPA Lignite to Methanol project, 290 tonne/day Lignite to Diesel project and conversion of Mine Overburden to Sand (0.42 MTPA). Moreover, possibilities of acquiring Coal blocks for commercial mining are being explored, he said.

As a socially responsible Corporate Citizen, NLCIL continued its outreach towards development of surrounding villages where the operation of the Company exists, focusing on the socio-economic development of the region for achieving inclusive & sustainable growth. He declared that the Company’s key focus was on inclusive growth and to champion skill development to provide employment opportunities to project affected persons.

The performance of NLCIL up to the third quarter ending December 2022, where Lignite production and Power generation have gone up by 3.72% and 3.70% respectively, was encouraging, he noted. Also, on 15^thJanuary 2023, Talabira Mines had surpassed the yearly target of 8 MT Coal production.

Prasanna Kumar also stressed on the importance of projects under implementation for sustainability and informed that there was significant progress in the 3×660 MW Coal based power project of Neyveli Uttar Pradesh Power Ltd (NUPPL, a JV with UPRVUNL), the 3×800 MW Coal based Thermal Power Project at Talabira, Odisha, the ’Ultra Super Critical-Lignite based 2×660 MW TPS-II 2^nd Exp. Project’ at Neyveli, the 9 MTPA Pachwara South Coal Block and the 150 MW Hybrid Project (50MW Wind Power & 100 MW Solar Power) of SECI and 500 MW Solar Power Project of IREDA.

Reiterating that, as a leader of “Team NLCIL”, his focus would remain on ’People, Safety, Values, Transparency and Performance’, he called upon everyone to give top priority to Safety, maintaining discipline, maximizing production, prudent utilization of resources and timely completion of new projects.

As part of the function, the senior most worker of NLCIL, A. Kesavan, Attender Spl. Grade, along with his spouse K. Palaniammal were honoured. Tricycles were presented to differently-abled persons (Divyangs).

Shaji John, Director (Power), K. Mohan Reddy, Director (P&P) & Director (HR) AC, Suresh Chandra Suman, Director (Mines) & Director (Finance) AC and L. Chandrasekar, I.F.S., CVO/NLCIL participated in the function in which long service awards, loyal service awards and special awards were presented to the employees and students.

NLCIL’s employees, representatives of Trade Unions and Associations and residents of Neyveli were present at the Bharathi Stadium to participate in the celebrations. A Colourful, cultural programme was presented by school children and appreciated by one and all.

To mark the occasion, the members of the Neyveli Ladies Club distributed fruits to the in-patients of the NLCIL General Hospital and wished them a speedy recovery.