Akanksha Kumari becomes the First Female Mining Engineer to work in Underground Mine

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 1 September 2021

Coal India's subsidiary CCL announced on Tuesday that Akanksha Kumari has become the company's first female mining engineer to work in an underground mine. She is the second woman mining engineer to work for the Maharatna conglomerate Coal India Ltd (CIL), and the first to work for Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL) at its Churi underground mines in Jharkhand's North Karanpura district.

A CCL statement said, "Akanksha Kumari became the first woman mining engineer to join CCL. Our woman employees have been shouldering responsibilities ranging from officers to doctors to security guards and even running heavy machines like dumper and shovel and have excelled in each role.

However, this is the first time when the core mining activity of one of the biggest coal mining companies of the world will witness this progressive change. Akanksha is the first one to work in an underground coal mine.”

Akanksha, a resident of Barkagaon in the Hazaribagh district, attended Navodaya Vidyalaya for her education. Being from a mining belt, Akanksha had real experience with coal mining. she had a natural curiosity for mines as a child, which prompted her to study mining engineering at BIT Sindri in Dhanbad.

Being from a mining belt, Akanksha had real experience with coal mining. she had a natural curiosity for mines as a child, which prompted her to study mining engineering at BIT Sindri in Dhanbad.

Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi congratulated Akanksha Kumari on becoming the first woman mining engineer to work in an underground mine at Churi in Coal India's North Karanpura region.

Kumari is Central Coalfields Ltd's first female mining engineer (CCL).

Joshi said Kumari's success is a true example of progressive governance by the current administration under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote gender equality and provide more possibilities by permitting women to work in underground coal mines, according to a statement from the mines ministry.