Lok Sabha Question No. 6026 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-04-04
Subject: Coal Production
Ministry: COAL
Asked by: B.N. CHANDRAPPA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRYOF COAL

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRD QUESTION NO. 6026 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.04.2018

## Coal Production

## 6026.   SHRI B.N. CHANDRAPPA

Will the Minister of COAL be pleased to state:

- (a) whether coal is a vital resource for the progress of country, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the total number of coal mines operating in the country as on date;
- (c) the  total  capacity  of  the  coal  mines  and  total  production  of  the  coal  during  the  last three years;
- (d) whether adequate coal is being made available to the plants in the country; if so, the details thereof;
- (e) if not, the reasons therefor and the steps taken by the Government for increasing the work efficiency of coal mines to produce more coal to supply to all the plants in the country; and
- (f) whether any strategy has been formulated to ensure supply of coal to plants, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAY AND COAL (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

- (a): Coal is the prime source of energy in India and as per draft 'National Energy Policy' prepared by NITI Aayog, coal will remain as an important source of energy and electricity even in near future due to abundance of coal in India and that too at a cheaper rate.
- (b): The total number coal mines in Coal India Ltd. (CIL),Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), Public and Private Sectors as  on 31.03.2017 and total annual  production from these mines during 2016-17 is given below:

(Million Tonnes)

(Million Tonnes)

| Sector   |   Number of collieries |   Production |
|----------|------------------------|--------------|
| Public   |                     14 |        9.72  |
| Private  |                     21 |       34.076 |
| CIL      |                    394 |      559.14  |
| SCCL     |                     48 |       61.34  |

(c): Production of coal during the last three years is given below:

|            |   2014-15 |   2015-16 |   2016-17 |   2017-18 (Prov.) |
|------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-------------------|
| Production |   609.179 |    639.23 |   662.772 |           676.509 |

(d): In  the  year  2017-18,  against  the  pro-rata  AAP  target  (Apr-Feb'18)  of  408.6  MT  in CIL,  supply  of  about  411.3  MT  coal  is  been  made  to  power  sector  thereby  achieving materialization of 101% during the period.

(e): CIL has taken the following measures to improve the work efficiency of coal mines:

- i. Planning  for  higher  capacity  mines  with  heavy  mechanization  to  take  advantage  of economy of scale.
- ii. Introduction  of  state  of  the  art  technology  to  improve  its  work  efficiency  with  high capacity HEMMS like 42 cum shovel with 240T Rear Dumper.
- iii. Introduction of Surface Miners in opencast mines to improve operational efficiency & cater to environmental needs.
- iv. Introduction of In-pit crushing & conveying/in pit conveying.
- v. Introduction  of  mechanized  mass  production  technology  like  powered  support  long wall technology and continuous miner in UG mines.
- vi. Thrust  on  mechanization  of  coal  winning/loading  system  by  gradually  phasing  out manual  loading  by  SDL/LHD  loading,  manual  drilling  into  UDM  drilling,  haulage system of transport to conveyor system wherever feasible.
- vii. Construction of silos with rapid loading system for faster loading.
- viii.   For  survey/check  measurements,  use  of  technology  like  Terrestrial  Laser  Scanner (TLS).

(f): With a view to optimize transportation cost, an inter-Ministerial Task Force (IMTF) was constituted by Ministry of Coal for a comprehensive review of existing coal sources as also feasibility for rationalization of these sources. The IMTF recommended rationalization of existing sources on case to case basis for 19 Thermal Power Plants (TPPs) of Public Sector Undertakings(PSUs). This has resulted in rationalization of sources of 24.238 MT of coal. In addition,  an  agreement  was  signed  between  Gujarat  State  Electricity  Corporation  Ltd. (GSECL)  and  National  Thermal  Power  Corporation  (NTPC)  for  swapping  of  1.0  MT  of domestic  coal  with  imported  coal.  Further,  CIL  has  rationalized  sources  of  coal  supply  to TPPs of PSUs to the tune of 30.46 MT on the basis of the requests received from them. These have resulted in annual potential savings of Rs.3354 cr. Further, Government has permitted flexibility in utilization of domestic coal by allowing central/state utilities to use coal in such power plants to achieve overall reduction in cost of generation.

In addition to the above, it has been decided that all Power Plants located within 20 km from Pithead shall construct elevated closed belt conveyor within next 2 years (up to 1 st April 2020). Further, it is also decided that the power plants located within 40km from Pithead shall construct MGR within 3 years (up to 1 st April 2021). Power plants located beyond 40 km and up to 100 km, may also consider the option of MGR depending on the financial viability.

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