Plan To Increase Mining Of Coal

Coal is the mainstay of energy and contributes about 70% of the total power generation in the country. In view of increasing coal demand, the Government has initiated several measures to enhance coal production not only to provide affordable energy goods for the economy and ensure energy security but also to reduce dependence on import. The coal production for the financial year 2022-23 has been fixed at 911 MT which is expected to reach 1012MT in 2023-24 and further to 1.3 billion tonne in 2025-26.

The major steps taken to ramp up coal production include Single Window Clearance, amendment of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 to allow captive mines to sell up to 50% of their annual production after meeting the requirement of the end use plant, production through MDO mode, increasing use of Mass Production technologies such as surface miner, continuous miner etc., taking up new projects and expansion of existing projects, and auction of coal blocks to private companies/PSUs.

The total Coal production in 2022-23 (upto February, 2023) was 785.24 MT against 681.98 MT during the same period of last year showing growth of 15.14%. The details of coal import from major countries for last four years are given below:-

This information was given by the Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Monday.