As per the Niti Aayog’s annual assessment, the country will require 884.87 million tonnes (mt) of coal for the current fiscal ending March 2017. Coal Minister Piyush Goyal has said that demand of coal is not estimated separately for state and Union Territories. He also said that the total coal produced in the country during 2015-16 was to the tune of 639.23 mt.
The minister highlighted that to increase domestic production of coal, the government has taken the various steps include efforts to expedite Environment Clearances and Forest Clearances, pursuing with the state government for assistance in land acquisition and coordinated effort with the Railways for movement of coal. He added that to increase production of coal by 2019-20, Coal India (CIL) has prepared a road map which include capacity addition from new projects, use of mass production technologies and identification of existing ongoing projects with growth potential.
Goyal also said that under provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, 83 coal mines (31 by way of auction and 52 by allotment) have been allocated so far. Out of these, 30 coal mines for utilization in specified end-uses- power (regulated sector) and iron and steel, cement, captive power production (non-regulated sector) have been allotted to private sector entities who participated in the three tranches of e-auction of these coal mines. He noted that an amount of Rs 444.67 crore has been invested by the successful bidders of private sector entities towards payment of cost of land and mine infrastructure.