Anil Kumar Jha has been appointed as new chairman of Jindal Power
Anil Kumar Jha, the former Coal India CMD has been appointed as chairman for Jindal Power Limited, he brings with him three decades of coal mining experience…
Anil Kumar Jha, former CMD of Coal India Limited, has been appointed as the chief executive of Jindal Power Limited (JPL) a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL). Before joining JPL, Jha served as chairman and managing director of Coal India (CIL) from May 2018 till his retirement in January 2020.
Jha a mining graduate and M Tech from the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, was born on January 25, 1960, Godda district in Jharkhand. He began his career as a Junior Executive with Coal India at Topa Colliery, Central Coalfields Limited. During his career, he served at various senior-level positions before he joined Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) as CMD on 1 November 2015. He was appointed CMD of Coal India Limited in May 2018 and was the head of the company until his retirement in January 2020. Coal India’s saw its production crossing over 600 million tonnes per annum during his term. Jha has vast work experience with him
He has over three decades of vast and rich working experience spanning across mine planning, production, management, supervision, management, and control as well as in open-cast mining. In addition, Jha is also a member of the Expert Assessment Committee (Violation) formed under the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change. He also serves as Chairman, Modernisation Committee, Director General Mines Safety as well as member Coal Mining Committee in NTPC.
The development of Anil Kumar Jha’s appointment as chairman of JPL took place post winning the auction of commercial coal mines for Chhattisgarh’s Gare Palma IV/1 block in November 2020, by the company. JPL is a leading power company in India that currently runs a cumulative capacity of 3400 MW of coal-based thermal power plant in Tamnar, Chhattisgarh. The Chhattisgarh’s Gare Palma IV/1 coal block has its importance for JPL and JSPL as it is located in close proximity to the Tamnar power plant as well as JSPL’s Raigarh steel plant, in Chhattisgarh.
Before the cancellation of licenses of 204 captive coal blocks by the Supreme Court via its order dated September 2014, the Gare Palma IV/1 mines belonged to JSPL. Even the JSPL stood out as the highest bidder for the block in an auction that took place in November 2019, however, the auction was cancelled thereafter by the government. Recently, the JPL won the auction for the Gare Palma IV/1 block in November 2020.
While welcoming Anil Kumar Jha at the helm of the JPL board, Naveen Jindal, Chairman JSPL stated that JPL under the leadership of Jha, who brings with him rich insight and vast experience, will scale new heights while contributing towards the goal of self-reliant India.
