Coal news and updates

Output up, no coal shortage after Dec: CIL

No coal shortage is expected after December as Coal India (CIL) has increased production “substantially” and operationalised some captive mines, the state-owned company’s chairman Pramod Agarwal said at a Bengal Chamber of Commerce event. He said that in the last four months, coal imports have also come down.Agarwal said that as of March-end, the coal giant was owed Rs 20,000 crore by power companies. However, the amount due from power utilities has come down to Rs 12,000 crore now. “We have devised a formula for new payments: You pay two-thirds for what you take and the rest one-third would be adjusted with dues,” he said.Coal secretary Anil Kumar Jain said that the Centre would bring the coal sector under the national monetisation pipeline even as it has relaxed norms for coal block bidding.

The government was looking at monetising the firstmile connectivity (FMC) projects and railway projects. “FMC should be outsourced, we are for outright sale of CERL (Chhattisgarh East Railway,),” he said.CIL has earmarked Rs 14,000-crore investments in two phases by 2025 for the FMC projects and Rs 19,650 crore for the railway projects by 2024 to enhance evacuation of the increased coal production.