The State-wise and year-wise production of coal since 2019 is given below-

[Figure in Million Tonne (MT)]

* Provisional Figure

The following steps have been taken by Government to increase coal production:

i. Regular reviews by Ministry of Coal to expedite the development of coal blocks.

ii. Enactment of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2021 for enabling captive mines owners (other than atomic minerals) to sell up to 50% of their annual mineral (including coal) production in the open market after meeting the requirement of the end use plant linked with the mine in such manner as may be prescribed by the Central Government on payment of such additional amount.

iii. Single Window Clearance portal for the coal sector to speed up the operationalization of coal mines.

iv. Project Monitoring Unit for hand-holding of coal block allottees for obtaining various approvals / clearances for early operationalization of coal mines.

v. Auction of commercial mining on revenue sharing basis launched in 2020. Under commercial mining scheme, rebate of 50 % on final offer has been allowed for the quantity of coal produced earlier than scheduled date of production. Also, incentives on coal gasification or liquefaction (rebate of 50 % on final offer) have been granted.

vi. Terms and conditions of commercial coal mining are very liberal with no restriction on utilization of coal, allowing new companies to participate in the bidding process, reduced upfront amount, adjustment of upfront amount against monthly payment, liberal efficiency parameters to encourage flexibility to operationalize the coal mines, transparent bidding process, 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through automatic route and revenue sharing model based on the National Coal Index.

In addition to above, coal companies have also taken following steps to increase the domestic coal production:

i. Coal India Limited (CIL) has adopted a number of measures to increase in coal production. In its Underground (UG) mines, CIL is adopting Mass Production Technologies (MPT), mainly with Continuous Miners (CMs), wherever feasible. CIL has also planned Highwalls (HW) mines in view of the availability of Abandoned/ Discontinued mine. CIL is also planning large capacity UG mines wherever feasible. In its Opencast (OC) mines, CIL already has State-of-the- Art technology in its high capacity Excavators, Dumpers and Surface Miners.

2. Regular liaison is being undertaken by Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) for grounding of new projects and operation of existing projects. SCCL has initiated action for developing infrastructure for evacuation of coal like CHPs, Crushers, Mobile Crushers, Pre-weigh-bins etc.

The year-wise quantity of coal imported by Domestic Coal Based Power Plants for blending in the country since 2019 is given below-

[Figure in Million Tonne (MT)

* Provisional Figure

As per the current import policy, coal is kept under Open General License (OGL) and consumers are free to import coal from the source of their choice as per their contractual prices on payment of applicable duty.

In order to meet the power demand and to ensure uninterrupted power supply across the country and also to maintain adequate coal reserves in domestic coal-based power plants, Ministry of Power has issued advisory on 27.06.2024 to extend the advisory dated 04.03.2024 till 15.10.2024.

This information was given by Union Minister of Coal and Mines Shri G. Kishan Reddy in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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Sunil Kumar Tiwari