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Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), a subsidiary of Central PSU Coal India Ltd., has introduced virtual reality (VR) based skill development programme for providing safety and operational training to its 17,000 workforce by 2026.

The Coal India subsidiary has earmarked a budget of Rs 6.5 crore for skill enhancement among coal miners.

Emphasising on skilled workforce as a key to safe and productive mining operations, Om Prakash Singh, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of MCL said that regular training and upgradation of skills is required by leveraging cutting-edge technologies to match the advancements and introduction of new technology in the mining sector.

MCL plans to upgrade the technical skills of the workforce involved in operational activities, to achieve 300 million tonne (MT) coal production by 2026 and enable CIL to achieve the target of one billion tonne production. 

VR-based training to the workers would save cost and time, yet provide impartial and auto-generated feedback on the skills attained by the trainees.

Initiated as a step towards digitalisation in business processes, introduction of VR-based training for the workforce will serve as a major initiative for 18 training modules leveraging this modern technology, officials said.

Hyderabad-based virtual reality technology company, Concoct Human Resource Practitioners (CHRP-India) Pvt. Ltd., has been entrusted with the job for development of simulated environment and running the training programme in areas like blasting, mine inspection, electrical safety, working, traffic simulation, engine/transmission maintenance etc.

MCL, the highest coal producing subsidiary of Coal India Ltd with mining operations spread over Sundergarh, Jharsuguda and Angul districts of Odisha, had produced more than 193 million tonne coal in the last financial year 2022-23 and dispatched a record 148 million tonne coal to power plants.