Govt appoints ex-NCL CMD Tapas Nag as head of high-level committee on coal mines safety

New Delhi: The Centre has appointed former Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL) CMD Tapas Kumar Nag as the head of a high-level committee on safety in coal mines formed earlier this year in January. Nag was earlier serving as one of the five members of the committee and has been appointed the head of the panel in place of former Director-General of Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) PK Sarkar. On January 1, the Centre had constituted a high-level national committee for safety in coal mines for reviewing one coal company, both public and private, every two months and ensuring that suitable policy interventions are made and safety standards are followed in coal mines to achieve the aim of zero fatality – zero harm.

In the notification released by the Ministry of Coal, dated May 9, the ministry also announced the appointment of Anup Biswas, Retired DDG, DGMS (an expert in fire handling) as Member of the high-level committee. The Director Technical at the Ministry of Coal, Peeyush Kumar, is the Member Secretary of the committee. And the other four Members on the panel, barring Biswas, are Head of Department (HoD) at IIT-ISM-Dhanbad Professor Ram Madhav, former DDG (Electrical) at DGMS GL Kanta Rao, former Director of CMPDI RK Chopra, and Dattatraya Sate, former HoD at Department of Vehicle Testing and Certification (Safety and Regulations), Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) and former Technical Consultant, Ministry of Road and Highways. The tenure of the Members is for a period of two years.