Nature has sufficient resources to fulfill men's needs but not enough to fulfill his greed. And V K Singh, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Northern Coal Fields Ltd is one of those individuals who has always strived to strike a balance between men's need and nature's conservation. As a result, he has not only been able to produce sufficient coals for the nation's energy needs but has also given beautiful landscape to people inhabiting the mining areas.

A man known for his single-minded devotion to work and administrative skills, Singh within a short span of time was instrumental in increasing the productivity of all his mines by marketing the coal and coal products efficiently and economically. It goes to his credit that Singrauli Coalfields have been able to earn a rare distinction for its service to the nation. But behind all the success, it was Singh's vast experience in mining, which enabled him to launch NCL on a high trajectory growth. Before joining NCL Singh, who was Director (Technical) of Central Coalfields Ltd (CLL) served on various capacities, carrying with him rich reservoir of knowledge and technical expertise.

It was as a result of Singh and his predecessors' hard work and intelligent leveraging of manpower that NCL registered a record coal production of 47.03 million tonnes with a growth of 4.3 percent. It also witnessed a record overburden removal of 142.327 million cu.m with a growth of over 3.3 per cent. While enhancing the productivity of the mines, Singh also ensured that environment management and pollution control do not receive a setback. As a result of his initiative, the NCL was able to increase the forest cover in the Singrauli region to a large extent. In fact, between 1986 and 2003-04, about 18 million trees were planted in and around its mining projects.

While ensuring a planned production of coal efficiently and matching its increased demand which is the prime source of energy for the nation, Singh has been able to help local tribal, non-tribal and project affected persons in overall improvement of quality of their life through self employments schemes, imparting education and providing health care. In fact, NCL is one of very few companies engaged in mining activities, which has got ISO - 14001 certification for its environment initiatives. Thanks to people like Singh who have given a new dimension to growth and development of India.