Coal Production

India has reserves of coal, the actual consumption exceeds the overall domestic production / supply of coal. The total consumption of coal during 2013-14 was 739.42 Mte. against the supply of domestic coal of 571 Mte. This was stated by Sh. Piyush Goyal, Minister of state for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy (Independent Charge) in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today. The gap between total consumption & domestic supply was met through import of coal to the extent of 168.44 Mte. The total production of coal during 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 was 539.95 Mte, 556.40 Mte and 565.64 Mte. against the target of 554 Mte, 574.40 Mte and 604.55 Mte respectively. The domestic production of coal has been constrained due to difficulties in acquisition of land, slow pace of environment & Forest clearance and constraints in evacuation of coal through the rail network.

The Minister further stated that the focus of the Government is on increasing production of Coal by facilitating Environment & Forest clearances, pursuing with State Government for help in expediting land acquisition and coordinated effort with Railways for movement of coal. Steps have been taken by Coal India Ltd. and its subsidiaries to augment coal production which includes capacity addition from new projects and use of mass production technologies, the Minister added.

RM/RS- USQ2613 - RS