(a) whether the Planning Commission has pegged country’s coal demand for 2011-12 at 713.24
million tons but the domestic supply is restricted to 591.78 million tons;
(b) if so, whether the shortfall will be met through import of coal;
(c) if so, whether the Government will propose to allow phased extraction of coal from prohibited areas;and
(d) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government to increase the domestic supply of coal
to power units?
MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COAL (SHRI PRATIK PRAKASHBAPU PATIL)
(a) & (b): As per the Annual Plan Document 2011-12, the likely demand for coal in the country is 696.03
MT and the projected domestic coal production is 554.00 MT. However, 5 MT of coal stocks are proposed
to be liquidated by CIL bringing down the gap to 137 MT. The gap will have to be met through imports.
(c) & (d): The issue of restricted/prohibited areas pertain to the issue of “Go and No Go Conceptâ€
proposed by Ministry of Environment & Forest. A group of Ministers has been constituted to address
the issue.
Apart from a series of measures initiated by CIL & SCCL, Government has allotted 208 coal blocks to
private/public companies to increase domestic supply of coal to various consumers including power
units.