New Delhi, 04 May 2023 : The Public Enterprises Selection (PESB) held interview for the selection of Chairman and Managing Director, Coal India Limited (CIL). The PESB has recommended the name of Shri Polavarapu Mallikharjuna Prasad, for the post of Chairman and Managing Director, Coal India Limited. Presently he is serving as Chairman & Managing Director, Central Coalfields Ltd.
Shri PM Prasad, took charge as Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) on 01/09/2020. He has put up 36 years of experience in the varied facets of operations and management. He is a mining engineer from Osmania University. He did M.Tech in ‘Open-Cast Mining’ from Indian School of Mines (IIT- ISM), Dhanbad. In 1988 he acquired first class mines manager certificate from DGMS. He also obtained degree in law from Nagpur university in 1997.
Shri Prasad began his Career as an Executive Trainee with Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL) in 1984. He exhibited dedication, hard work, sincerity and dynamic leadership as he progressed through different roles in the company and became General Manager of Lingaraj area in Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL).
In 1994-95, he was instrumental in reopening of DRC mines which was affected by the underground fire during his posting in WCL. For this remarkable job, he was awarded as ‘Best Mines Manager’ from Secretary Coal, Ministry of Coal (MoC) and Chairman, Coal India Limited in 1995.
During his successful stint as General manager at MCL, he was responsible for successful opening and operations of ‘Kaniha Open Cast Project’ from March, 2010. He is also credited for diversion of nallah at Hingula Open Cast Area to unlock coal reserve of 26.00 MT in the year 2014-15 and commencement of New Railway Siding No. 9 at Talcher Coalfields. He has a special penchant for safety and the projects with which he was associated have won various prizes at different competitions including hat-trick for two projects i.e. Padmapur Opencast, WCL between 1996 and 1998 and Nandira UG Mine, MCL between 2004 and 2006.
In May, 2015 he joined NTPC as Executive Director (Coal Mining). He was acknowledged for expediting the process of award of MDO projects and awarded Pakribarwadih Coal Block (NTPC’s first project) and floated NITs for remaining coal blocks. In March 2016, he took charge as Executive Director cum Head of the Project, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. During his tenure, he led the commencement of coal mining operations at Pakribarwadih mines, Hazaribagh. During his term in 2016 Pakribarwadih was bestowed with the first prize in ‘Swarn Shakti Awards’.
In February, 2018 he joined Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) as Director Technical (P&P) where he was responsible for the operations of five areas of the company along with key departments like Corporate Planning, Civil Engineering, Railway Siding, Environment& Forest, etc. Under his leadership, NCL was awarded at the World Environmental Conference in June 2018 for outstanding work in environment conservation.
He took over the charge of CMD, Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) in August 2019. Amid the challenging conditions, he led from the front with commitment,vigor,and dedication.He spearheaded the company’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and was instrumental in various initiatives to transform the overall performance of the company.
Shri Prasad is renowned for his interpersonal skills and is a firm believer in teamwork and possesses excellent technical expertise. Under his guidance the company is poised to attain new milestones and scale further heights of success.
