Bhubaneswar: Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) has offered the state government to establish Covid-19 vaccination centres at five healthcare facilities in Angul, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Sundargarh districts.
In his letter to the state government, MCL director (Personnel) Keshav Rao has offered to establish Covid-19 vaccination centres while seeking its help for the noble initiative.
MCL, a Miniratna Subsidiary Company of Coal India Limited, will establish the vaccination centres for inoculating company employees, contractors’ workers, their family members and peripheral population, a company release said.
In the first quarter of current financial year, MCL has taken a series of measures involving over `32 crore to strengthen the fight against Covid-19, besides ensuring increased quantity of coal to power plants.
It spent `135 crore in different Covid-19 mitigating activities in Odisha during last financial year, and has further extended its support to state government in establishing Covid-19 hospitals and providing other infrastructure support.
The company is procuring 200 oxygen cylinders and concentrators to help Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh and Angul districts to combat Covid-19 pandemic.
Anticipating a rise in power demand in the country, the company ensured adequate daily supply of coal from its mines during the current fiscal, which was 15 per cent higher than the dispatch of dry fuel during the same period of last financial year 2020-21.
MCL CMD PK Sinha has stressed on regular health monitoring of coalfield workers, who are under treatment at various hospitals as well as at their residences.
MCL has lost 18 employees to Covid-19 pandemic, while 420 officers and staffers are still under treatment for the infection.
MCL, which contributes about 20 per cent to the country’s total coal production, has supported the state government and district authorities to set up and run Covid-19 hospitals with 1,405 beds, including 189 ICU ones. The company is also conducting sanitisation drives in peripheral localities, using fog cannons.
