(a) the estimates of coal reserves in the country, State-wise;
(b) whether the Government has conducted any recent survey to find out the coal reserves in the country;
(c) if so, the details thereof/State-wise; and
(d) the quantity of coal exploited and distributed during the last three years and the current year along with the steps taken by the Government to reduce the import of coal in the country?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) IN THE MINISTRY OF COAL, POWER AND NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY ( SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL )
(a) : The total estimated quantum of coal resource in the country is 306.59 billion tonnes as per “The inventory of Geological Resources of Indian Coal” (as on 01.04.2015), prepared by the Geological Survey of India. State-wise resources identified by Geological Survey of India (GSI) as on 01.04.2015 is given below:-
(Resource in million tonne)
State Proved Indicated Inferred Total
WEST BENGAL 13518 13010 4907 31435
JHARKHAND 41463 33026 6559 81049
BIHAR 0 0 160 160
MADHYA PRADESH 10411 12784 3341 26536
CHHATTISGARH 18237 34390 2285 54912
UTTAR PRADESH 884 178 0 1062
MAHARASHTRA 5953 3190 2110 11253
ODISHA 30747 36545 8507 75799
ANDHRA PRADESH 0 1149 432 1581
TELANGANA 9807 8808 2597 21211
ASSAM 465 47 3 515
SIKKIM 0 58 43 101
ARUNACHAL PRADESH 31 40 19 90
MEGHALAYA 89 17 471 576
NAGALAND 9 0 307 315
GRAND TOTAL 131614 143241 31740 306596
Note: The total coal extracted from the coalfields of India during 2014-15 is 612.37 million tonnes and since 1950 upto 2014-15 is around 13148 million tonne. (As per Coal Controller, MoC,Govt.of India).
(b) & (c): As a part of the coal resource survey, 0.71lakh meters of drilling has been done in 18 blocks during 2014-15. This was under the MoC scheme of Promotional (Regional) exploration to find out the new coal resources in the country. The details are enclosed in Annexure
(d) : The quantity of coal produced and despatched by CIL during last three years and the current year upto September 2015 is given below:-
(Fig. in Million Tonne)
Year 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16
(upto Sept. 2015)
Quantity of coal exploited/produced 452.21 462.42 494.24 229.55
Quantity of coal distributed/despatched 464.80 471.21 488.86 251.14
Steps taken to reduce import of coal in the Country.
In 2014-15, the country imported 212.013 Mt ( Coking 43.715 Mt & Non-coking 168.388 Mt). To reduce the import further, CIL has envisaged doubling its coal production to about 1 Billion Tonnes by 2019-20 from the current level of production. For evacuation of coal, 3 major Railway Infrastructure Projects have stated for execution by Indian Railways in the growing coalfields of Jharkhand, Odisha & Chattisgarh.
The demand of coking coal cannot be met indigenously as the supply of high quality coking coal in the country is limited and thus no option is left but to import high quality coking coal.
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As per Import Policy 1993-94 of the country, coal has been put under Open General License (OGL) and therefore, consumers are free to import coal based on their requirement. Superior quality non-coking coal is imported mainly by coast based power plants and other industrial users viz. paper, sponge, iron, cement and captive power plants, on consideration on transport logistics, commercial prudence, export entitlements and inadequate availability of such superior coal from indigenous sources.
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