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India to produce 1000 metric tonnes of coal by 2019-20: Piyush Goyal

Minister of state for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy (Independent Charge) Piyush Goyal on Thursday, in a written reply, said that the public sector Coal India Limited (CIL) has indicated that it will produce 1000 metric tonnes of coal by 2019-20 , which is about double the amount of present level of coal production.

He said that the expected growth is to come from identified future projects.

Goyal further stated that the envisaged growth is possible in the brown and green field areas and is expected to be achieved through on timely completion of new railway infrastructure projects, faster environment and forestry clearances, completion of rehabilitation and resettlement with the help of the state government and improvement in law and order situation apart from technology improvement in mining and related infrastructure.

On the issue of rationalisation of existing coal blocks, Goyal said that the Ministry of Coal (MoC) has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Task Force (IMTF) to review the existing sources and consider feasibility for rationalization of linkages from these sources with a view to reduce the transportation cost for power utilities, cement, steel and sponge iron sector.

He said the major recommendations of the task force were:

(i) Acceptance of the recommendations of the Functional Directors of Coal India Limited in respect of rationalization of existing sources in respect of applications received from captive power plants (8 applications received by CIL and rationalization recommended for 7 cases), sponge iron plants (21 applications received by CIL and rationalization recommended for 4 cases) and cement plants (2 applications received by CIL and both recommended).

(ii) Rationalization of coal supplies for Sanjay Gandhi and Satpura Thermal Power Plant of Madhya Pradesh Power Generation Company Limited (MPPGCL).

(iii) Reduction in quantity allocated to Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL) from Korea Rewa fields of C/D grade coal and proportionate increase in Korba fields of South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) by swapping quantities of MPPGCL

(iv) Rrationalization of sources for Panipat and Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Station of Haryana Power Generation Company Limited, Mejia and Koderma Thermal power Stations of Damodar Valley Corporation and Santhaldih, Kolaghat, Sagardighi and Bakreshwar Thermal Power Stations of West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited.

(v) Reduction in coal allocation from Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) and enhancement in coal allocation from Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) for the power plants of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board.

Goyal further stated that the approved recommendations of the task force were sent to Coal India Limited (CIL). CIL/coal companies have implemented the recommendations pertaining to rationalization of sources of consumers of all three types of plants in an inter-linked manner.

He revealed that the coal ministry has constituted a new Inter- Ministerial Task Force in June this year to undertake a comprehensive review of existing sources of coal and consider the feasibility for rationalization of these sources with a view to optimize transportation cost and materialization.

As far as mining operations in coal blocks was concerned, Goyal said 218 coal blocks were allocated to eligible public and private sector companies in pursuance of Section 3 of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973, during the period 1993 to 2011.

He further stated that out of 218 blocks, 40 coal blocks have come under production as on date.

The minister added that coal blocks for generation of power were allocated for the end use projects (EUPs) to be set up as well as for the existing EUPs. The production from the coal block was expected to be synchronized with the commissioning of the EUP where the same was allocated for proposed projects.

He said that for the management and reallocation of cancelled coal blocks, the government has promulgated 'the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance, 2014' on October 21 to ensure smooth transfer of rights, title and interests in the mines and blocks along with its land and other associated mining infrastructure to the new allottees to be selected through an auction or allotment to government company, as the case may be.

The allocation of coal blocks would now be made in pursuance of the provisions of Ordinance and Rules made there under in a time bound manner, the minister added.

On investment in the coal sector, Goyal said that the overall plan outlay for 2014-15 for the coal and lignite sector, including the plan outlay of the PSUs works out to Rs 12561 crores.

He said that the outlay of Coal India Limited (CIL) is Rs 5225 Crores and of Singareni Collieries Co. Limited (SCCL) and Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) are Rs 3850 crores and 2936 crores respectively.

He further stated that the outlay for plan schemes of the Ministry of Coal is Rs 550 crores. There is, however, no foreign assistance in budget of the Ministry of Coal, he added.

He said that the all India Coal Production targets for 2014-15 has been fixed at 630.25 Mte. During the period (April-Oct. 2014), the total production achieved was 314 Mte.

Source: Deccan Chronicle