Lok Sabha Question No. 21 (STARRED), answered on 2016-02-25
Subject: Commercial Coal Mining
Ministry: COAL
Asked by: SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE, DHANANJAY BHIMRAO MAHADIK

## Government of India Ministry of Coal Lok Sabha

## Starred Question No. 21 To be answered on 25.02.2016

## Commercial Coal Mining

## *21. SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE: SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK:

Will the Minister of COAL be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  planning  to  open  up  commercial  coal mining to private companies and if so, the details and the objectives thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has identified the mines it plans to auction and determined other terms such as eligibility criteria for companies to  take  part  and  formula  for  revenue  sharing  and  if  so,  the  details thereof  along  with  the  time  by  which  the  commercial  coal  mining  is likely to be made operational;
- (c) the  likely  production  of  coal  by  the  Coal  India  Limited  and  private firms by the end of this decade; and
- (d) the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  double  coal production so as to ensure adequate supply of coal to power units?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (I/C) FOR COAL, POWER, NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) to (d) : A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (d) in respect of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 21 for answer on 25.02.2016 asked by Shrimati Supriya Sule and Shri Dhananjay Mahadik regarding commercial coal mining.

- (a) & (b): An enabling provisions has been made in the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 and Mines and Mineral (Development & Regulations) Act,  1957  for  allocation  of  coal  mines/blocks  by  way  of  auction  and allotment  inter  alia  for  sale  of  coal  especially  to  meet  the  requirement  of medium,  small  and  micro  enterprises  and  give  relief  to  small  users. Whereas,  the  methodology  for  allotment  of  coal  mines  to  Central/State Public  Sector  Undertakings for  sale  of  coal  has  already  been  approved  by the Government, the methodology for auction of coal mines for sale of coal is under deliberation.

(c)  & (d): Production of coal by private entities by the end of this decade i.e. 2019-20 cannot be estimated as the same would depend on the number of allocated  coal  mines  coming  into  production.    The  estimated  production planned  by  Coal  India  Limited  (excluding  production  from  North  Eastern Coalfields) during the year 2019-20 is 908.10 Million Tonnes (MT). Further, plans to augment  production  up  to 1000  Million Tonnes  are being developed.

Coal India Limited (CIL) has envisaged doubling of its coal production by 2019-20 for which following steps have been taken:

- i. Mines  /  projects  to  produce  about  908.10  Million  Tonnes  have already been identified and further plans to augment production up to 1000 Million Tonnes are being developed.
- ii. An assessment of  the  need  for  up-gradation  of  technology  presently under practice in CIL mines and scope for further modernization has been carried out.
- iii. In order to maintain the planned growth in production and evacuation in  future,  CIL  has  undertaken  three  major  Railway  infrastructure projects  to  be  executed  by  Indian  Railways  in  growing  coalfields  of South  Eastern  Coalfields  Limited,  Mahanadi  Coalfields  Limited,  & Central Coalfields Limited.
- iv. Exploration capacity is being increased through induction of modern equipment and outsourcing.
- v. High  capacity  mines  are  being  planned  with  deployment  of  high capacity/ high productivity equipment in Open Cast & Underground mines.
- vi. Efforts  are  being  made  by  all  sub-subsidiaries  of  CIL  for  obtaining Environmental  Clearance/Forest  Clearances  within  the  scheduled time frame so that projects could start production.

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