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Govt aims to increase domestic coal production by 2019-20

In a bid to curb rising imports, the government on Monday said it has prepared a roadmap to increase domestic coal production.

“The focus of the government is on increasing the domestic production of coal which includes efforts to expedite environment & forest clearances expeditiously, pursuing with state government for assistance in land acquisition and coordinated efforts with railways for movement of coal,” Power & Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

Coal imports have continuously surged over the past three years. Total imports during 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 were 145.79 million tonnes, 166.86 million tonnes and 212.10 million tonnes, respectively.

The Coal Minister underscored the need to ensure synergy between the power and the coal sectors and said the government has already allotted coal blocks to power utilities which are aimed at improving availability of coal in the domestic market.

“A roadmap has been prepared by CIL (Coal India Ltd.) to substantially enhance production of coal by 2019-20. This includes capacity addition from new projects, use of mass production technologies and identification of existing ongoing projects with growth potential,” Ministry of coal said in a statement.

Earlier this year, the government had set up an ambitious target of doubling domestic coal production over a period of five years.

source: https://www.thedollarbusiness.com