Bhopal, Jun 6 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday pressed a button in Bhopal to commission Dhankasa and Sharda underground coal mines in the state's Chhindwara district, as part of a virtual inauguration function of three facilities of the Western Coalfields Limited.

The third mine inaugurated during the function, attended through video link by Union minister Pralhad Joshi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, was the Adasa-Nagpur one owned by WCL.

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"More than one thousand people will be hired in these two mines. In the next four years, Coal India will start 20 mines, out of which six will be in Madhya Pradesh. Investments of Rs 458 crore and 57 crore have been earmarked for Dhankasa and Sharda mines, both of which will produce 1.4 lakh tonnes of coal annually," Chouhan said.

Chouhan said MP was a mineral-rich state with deposits of diamond, coal, methane gas, copper and limestone, with top position in diamonds, second in manganese and copper and fourth in coal.

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MP produces 239 million tonnes of coal in a year which brings in revenue of Rs 2,000 crore, with mining operations being carried out by Coal India Limited in Chhindwara, Betul, Anuppur, Shahdol, Umaria and Singrauli districts, a release said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)