Lok Sabha Question No. 4115 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-08-13
Subject: Technology Upgradation and Modernisation of Coal Mines
Ministry: COAL
Asked by: K.R.P. PRABAKARAN

**GOVERNMENT OF INDIA**

#### 1 MINISTRY OF COAL

###### 1 LOK SABHA

**UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4115**

**TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.08.2015**

**Technology Upgradation and Modernisation of Coal Mines**

**4115.	SHRI K.R.P. PRABAKARAN:**

Will the Minister of COAL be pleased to state:

(a)	whether the Government has made any efforts for technology upgradation and modernization of coal mines in view of increasing production and productivity, improving quality to satisfy the customers, rationalizing linkages in order to reduce the cost and improve material movement; and

(b)	if so, the details thereof?

### 1 ANSWER

**MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) IN THE MINISTRY OF COAL, POWER AND NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY  (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)**

**(a) & (b):** Coal companies have taken several actions to increase production and productivity which include the following major ones:

- Mega opencast projects have been planned with higher size of equipment for excavation, transportation, drilling and other auxiliary operations of international standard.
- Feasibility of deploying of Continuous Miners (CMs) has been considered for mass production technology & Long Wall Mining wherever geo mining conditions permit.
- At present, 8 continuous Miners are deployed in 7 underground mines of CIL. Introduction of this technology in 19 more underground mines has already been planned where 25 continuous miners with a planned capacity of 12.59 Mty. have been proposed.

In order to produce better quality of coal and also to improve the quality of coal to satisfy the customers, Coal India Limited (CIL) and its subsidiaries / coal companies are adopting new technologies such as Selective Mining, Continuous Miners, Surface Miners etc. in production of coal and System of Washing of Coal is being used for decreasing ash content of coal.

The new Inter-Ministerial Task Force (IMTF) constituted by the Government in June, 2014 has submitted its Report to the Government recommending a three-step approach.  The recommendations inter-alia include rationalization of linkage sources for 19 Power Utilities (PUs) in Stage-I by swapping linkage coal between different coal companies to optimize distances and maximizing despatches of coal.

The Task Force recommended rationalization of six swap sets of PUs in Stage-II, as listed below:-

|   **S. No.** | **State**                | **Participating Companies**                                                                                                                 |
|--------------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|            1 | Tamil Nadu               | Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO)  & National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC)                          |
|            2 | Gujarat                  | Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL) & NTPC                                                                                |
|            3 | Maharahstra              | Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (MAHAGENCO), NTPC & NTPC- SAIL POWER COMPANY PRIVATE LIMITED (NSPCL)                             |
|            4 | Rajasthan                | Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (RRVUNL) & NTPC                                                                                    |
|            5 | Punjab and Uttar Pradesh | Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) and Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (UPRVUNL) |
|            6 | Haryana                  | Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL), DVC and Aravali Power Company Private Limited (APCLP)                                 |

In Stage-III, a step-wise approach to achieve further rationalization has been recommended by IMTF by identification of clusters which would result in net reduction of the overall costs, and can be effected with consent of the Gencos/States.

As per the status of implementation of recommendations of IMTF, out of total 19 TPPs recommended for rationalization by Task Force in Stage-I, Coal India Limited (CIL)  has executed Fuel Supply Agreements (FSAs) with 14 TPPs which have resulted into 16 new FSAs at subsidiaries of CIL for a quantity of 18.224 MT. Under Stage-II rationalization, one swap of domestic and imported coal has been successfully implemented between NTPC and GSECL.

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