India, Oct. 28 -- Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) has established a state-of-the-art Geotechnical Laboratory at its headquarters to strengthen in-house technical capabilities, improve mine safety and reduce dependence on external testing agencies.

The facility, inaugurated by Dr Satish Jha, Chairman-cum-Managing Director on Tuesday, is the first of its kind among the producing subsidiaries of Coal India Limited. Functional Directors of the company, including Mohd. Anzar Alam, Director (Finance), Gunjan Kumar Sinha, Director (HR) and Chitaranjan Kumar, Director (Tech/Ops), were prominent among the senior officers present on the occasion.

The laboratory is expected to enhance ECL's technical self-reliance by enabling independent rock mec...