Focus on coal production
The government has planned exploration of 37 coal blocks and 10 lignite blocks along with drilling of 121 coal blocks and one lignite block in the current fiscal, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi told Parliament on 2 Dec 2019.
The exploration is in addition to exploration and drilling of coal blocks allocated to state-run Coal India Limited (CIL), he said.
“Exploration of Non-Coal India Limited (Non-CIL) coal blocks is carried out under the Central Sector Scheme ‘Exploration of Coal & Lignite’ of the Ministry of Coal.
Each year exploration programme of regional exploration and detailed drilling in Non-CIL blocks in coal and lignite is approved.
The regional exploration for the year 2019-20 has been planned for 37 coal blocks and 10 lignite blocks, whereas detailed drilling has been planned for 121 coal blocks and 1 lignite block, Joshi said in a reply to the Rajya Sabha.
The minister also informed the upper house that Rs.937 crores have been allocated for exploration and drilling of Non-CIL blocks in coal and lignite, out of which Rs.120 crores have to be spent on regional exploration. The remaining Rs.817 crores is to be spent for detailed drilling.
He said 810 Million Tonnes (MT) of coal will be produced in the current fiscal. Mining targets have been set for Coal India Limited, Singareni Collieries Co Ltd and captive and others at 660 MT, 67 MT and 83 MT, respectively.
He also stressed that the Government is accelerating domestic production of coal through allocation of more coal blocks, pursuing with State Government for assistance in land acquisition and coordinated efforts with Railways for movement of coal.
He also said that in order to enhance coal production, CIL has taken many steps including the opening of 55 greenfield projects having capacity of 92 million tonne per annum (MTPA). It would also expand 193 brownfield projects having capacity of about 310 MTPA in next five years.
Joshi assured that maximum use of technology and portal based monitoring of on-going projects are in place to ensure timely completion of projects. fiinews.com
