Coal Minister invites Czech firms to invest in Indian coal sector

15 Jun 2011 Evaluate

In its bid to meet the ever widening demand-supply gap of the dry fuel, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, who is in Czech Republic, has invited companies from the nation to invest in the Indian coal sector. The shortage of coal in India is likely to reach over 250-300 million tonne by 2016-17, which is more than double from 125 million tonnes now.

The Coal Minister, who met Martin Kocourek, Trade and Industry Minister of Czech Republic, explored the scope for technical cooperation between both the nations in the field of coal mining. To study modern methods and technologies used in underground mining, Jaiswal urged Czeck firms to invest in India and explore the opportunities in deep coal mining, lignite mining and clean coal technologies covering the areas of coal mine methane extraction, underground coal gasification etc. The minster also proposed for technical cooperation in manufacturing of mining machinery for underground mining as well as lignite mining.

Jaiswal is leading a high level six member delegation including Alok Perti, Special Secretary, Coal Ministry, N C Jha, Chairman and Managing Director, Coal India, among others, on a ten day visit to three European nations viz., Czech Republic, Belarus and Poland to explore the scope for technical cooperation in manufacturing of mining machinery for underground mining as well as lignite mining.

Earlier, the Group of Ministers (GoM) on coal that met for nearly two hours on June 9, failed to take a decision on ways to boost production of the resource, but agreed to meet again on July 2. The Coal Minister favored completely abandoning the 'no-go/go' classification of forests, which barred mining activity in areas with a weighted forest cover of more than 10%.

© 2026 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×