South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) is the largest coal producing company of India. It is a "Miniratna" Company, and one of eight fully owned subsidiaries of Coal India Limited. The company has its headquarter at Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India and 92 mines spread over Chhattisgarh & Madhya Pradesh; 70 underground, 21 opencast, and 1 mixed. It is a schedule 'B' Mini Ratna CPSE in coal & lignite under the administrative control of the Ministry of Coal.
The Company came into existence in 1985, when the Government of India, decided to bifurcate a part of coal mines held by Western Coalfields Limited into new company called South Eastern Coalfields Limited, along with Central Coalfields Limited, which was bifurcated into Northern Coalfields Limited, for administrative purpose.
As of 01.04.2012, the total geological coal reserve in SECL command area is 58253.15 Million tons, out of which 16076.54 Million tons is the proved reserve. The coal deposits of SECL occurs in the great Son-Mahanadi master basin. It spreads over 6 districts namely Korba, Raigarh, Surguja, Surajpur, Balrampur & Korea) in Chhattisgarh (C.G) state and 3 districts viz. Shahdol, Anuppur & Umaria districts in Madhya Pradesh (M.P). The total coal reserve in M.P as of 01.04.2012 is 7407.00 MT while in C.G, it is 50846.15 MT.
Coalfields Under SECL
For effective administrative control and operation, the mines have been grouped in three Coalfields with 13 operating areas -
Central India Coalfields (CIC) Chirimiri Area Baikunthpur Area Bishrampur Area Hasdeo Area Bhatgaon Area (Bhatgaon Colliery) Jamuna & Kotma Area Sohagpur Area Johilla Area Korba Coalfields Korba Area Kusmunda Area Dipka Area Gevra Area Mand-Raigarh Coalfields Raigarh Area