Government working to eliminate coal import: Piyush Goyal
23 Sep 2016
The government is working on a plan to end dependency on coal imports in next
34 months in order to facilitate consumption of the surplus fossil fuel produced by Coal
India.
"When I took charge in 2014, I was faced with the challenge of inadequate supply of fuel. But
now after two years we have come to a point where we have surplus coal and we are worried
how to sell the surplus," Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said here late last evening.
He was addressing a gathering at the 50year celebration of council for fair business practices (CFBP).
"To tackle this problem of surplus, my ministry has drawn up an entire programme to see how we can completely eliminate import of coal
by any state government or state discom in the next 34 months," he said.
For almost 67 decades after independence, the country had got used to power and coal shortage but today there is a situation of surplus
production, he said.
"The one billion target (of coal production )that I announced was an off the cuff remark for meeting of shortage of coal and I was criticised
for this. But today we are worried how are we going to sell the excess production," he said.
Goyal said there is an availability of almost 20 days stock and there is not a single plant in the country which is shut due to shortage of
coal.
It was earlier reported that the government has decided to push back its target of coal production of one billion tonne by 2020 as it does
not have takers for the produce.
Coal India had set a target of 598 MT of production in 201617.
ET