Bhola Nath Shukla on Friday took over the charge of Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL).

Shulka, who was received by Director (Technical/Operations) OP Singh in the presence of General Manager LN Mishra, union representatives and a large number of employees, was given the guard of honour at the company headquarters.

Having a distinguished career of 37 years in coal industry, Shulka was Director (Technical) at the Coal Mine Planning and Design Institute Ltd (CMPDI), Ranchi before taking over the charge of the MCL. 

A Mining Engineering Graduate from the IIT (BHU) and an MTech in Opencast Mining from IIT (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad,  Shukla is credited for introduction of innovative technologies into coal mining.

While serving as Area General Manager of Hingula and Bharatpur areas in the Talcher coalfields, he had successfully managed rehabilitation and resettlement issues, leading the units to a new growth trajectory.

As a General Manager (Corporate Planning and Projects), Shulka was instrumental in company’s new initiatives into energy sector and infrastructure development for coal mining and despatch.

Earlier, Shulka was also the Director (Technical)/Coal Resource Development), CMPDI and Director (Technical), Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), Asansol (West Bengal). 

Shukla was also into adventures sports and had cycled from Varanasi to Kathmandu (Nepal).

The MCL, which produced 144 million tonne during the year 2018-19, is targeting 167-million tonne coal production during the current fiscal.