India: Coal production surges by 216% in 6 years: Pralhad Joshi

The coal production from captive and commercial coal mines have been steadily increasing over the years, registering a 216 per cent growth in the last six years, Minister for Coal and Mines, Pralhad Joshi said Thursday.

In a tweet, minister Joshi highlighted that a total of 86 coal mines have been successfully auctioned under commercial coal mining, offering a potential annual revenue of ₹34,188 crore to various states across the country.

In a meeting with senior officials of the ministry of coal, the minister reviewed the performance of coal production from these mines and deliberated on strategies to further increase production by 39% in the current fiscal year.

He also took stock of production from underground coal mines and emphasized on Underground Coal Mine Mission Plan to achieve 100 million tonne coal production.

In June 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the first-ever commercial coal mines auction under the CM (SP) Act of 2015/ MMDR Act of 1957.

“So far, six tranches of commercial coal mines auctions have been completed and a total of 86 coal mines with a total annual production capacity of 218.9 million tonne per annum (MTPA) have been successfully auctioned. The 7th tranche of commercial coal mines auctions offering a total of 98 mines is in progress,” the coal ministry said.

Prior to the start of commercial coal mine auctions, the average duration for operationalization of coal mine was around five years. However, the average duration of operationalization of coal mines after commercial auctions has been reduced considerably and the result is already seen with contribution of production from the commercial mines. The first commercial coal mine started production within one year from its allocation.

According to the ministry, coal production from commercial coal mines in FY 2021-22 was 1.15 million tonne (MT) and 7.12 MT in FY 2022-23 with four commercial coal blocks i.e. Sulyari, Garepalma IV/1, Garepalma IV/7 and Gotitoriamines.

It is expected that additional six commercially auctioned coal mines are likely to be operationalized in FY 2023-24 with an expected coal production of 12.2 million tonne (MT), it added.
Source: Livemint