Lok Sabha Question No. 1834 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-27
Subject: Shortage of Coal in the Country
Ministry: COAL
Asked by: Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh, Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Ram Kripal Yadav

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COAL

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1834 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.07.2022

## Shortage of Coal in the Country

## †1834. SHRI RAJIV RANJAN SINGH ALIAS LALAN SINGH: SHRI DINESH CHANDRA YADAV: SHRI RAM KRIPAL YADAV:

## Will the Minister of Coal be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  there  is  shortage  of  coal  in  the  country  which  is  affecting  the domestic coal production and power generation and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the cancellation of 204 coal blocks in 2014 is also one of the main reasons of shortage in production;
- (c) if so, whether the Government proposes to make country self reliant by the increasing the coal production after reviewing the situation; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS, COAL AND MINES (SHRI PRALHAD JOSHI)

(a): There is no shortage of coal in the country.  The all India coal production in the year 2021-2022 was 778.19 Million Tonne (MT) in comparison to 716.083 MT  in  the  year  2020-2021.  Further,  in  the  current  financial  year  (upto June'22), the country has produced 204.876 MT of coal as compared to 156.11 MT during the same period of last year with a growth of about 31%.   The total domestic raw coal supply to different priority sectors during the year 2021-22 was 818.99 MT in comparison to 690.88 MT in 2020-21.

In  2022-2023  (April,  2022  to  June,  2022),  as  per  Ministry  of  Power,  the  all India average gap between the Energy Requirement and Energy Supplied was only 1%.  Gap between energy demand and supply is generally on account of factors  other  than  inadequacy  of  power  availability  in  the  country,  e.g. constraints in distribution network, financial constraints, commercial reasons, forced outage of generating units, etc.

(b)  to  (d): Most  of  the  requirement  of  coal  in  the  country  is  met  through indigenous production/supply and Coal India Limited (CIL) contributes more than  80%  of  the  indigenous  production/supply  in  the  country.  CIL  has envisaged to enhance its production to reach the level of one Billion Tonne (BT) coal by the year 2024-25 from its current production level of about 600 MT in order to meet the demand of coal indigenously and to eliminate non-essential import of coal in the country. CIL has already identified all resources required and its  related  issues/enablers  like  requirement  of  EC/FC,  land  acquisition, evacuation constraints etc. to achieve one BT production plan. Further, the following steps have been taken to boost coal production and to make country self reliant.

- i. Enactment of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act,  2021:  The  Act  provides  that  captive  mines  owners  (other  than  atomic minerals)  may  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 and on payment of such additional amount. This step is an attempt to stimulate the coal block allocattees to enhance coal production.
- ii. Commercial auction of coal blocks on revenue sharing basis.
- iii.  Regular  Monitoring:  A  Monitoring  Committee  has  been  constituted  under the  Chairmanship  of  Secretary  (Coal)  with  Chief  Secretaries  from  respective Host  States,  Secretary  (MoEF  &  CC),  Coal  Controller  Organization  (CCO)  & CMPDIL  as  members  of  the  Committee  to  conduct  regular  reviews  and  to expedite the development of blocks.
- iv.  Single  Window  Clearance:  The  Union  government  has  launched  Single Window  Clearance  portal  on  11.01.2021  for  the  coal  sector  to  speed  up  the operationalisation of coal mines.

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