Green clearance, Law & Order problems delay 89% Coal India projects

Coal India has ambitious target of raising its annual production to 1 bn tonnes by 2020

As many as 89 projects of Coal India are running behind schedule due to reasons such as delay in green clearances and law and order problems, the world's largest coal miner said in a report.

Of the 89 delayed projects, 62 are mining projects and 27 are non-mining projects, Coal India (CIL) said in the report.

Coal India has an ambitious target of raising its annual production to 1 billion tonnes by 2020 from around 550 million tonnes at present.

"Out of 120 (mining) coal projects, 58 projects are running on schedule and 62 are delayed," the PSU said.

Of the 62 delayed mining projects, 34 are running behind the schedule on account of delays in getting forestry clearances and 17 are delayed because of land acquisition and associated R&R issues.

"In addition, seven projects are running behind the schedule due to delay or discontinuance of work or non- participation in tender by contractor, one project due to law and order problem and three projects due to lack of railway infrastructure facilities for coal evacuation," it said.

The non mining projects, the PSU said, are running behind schedule due to discontinuance of work by contractor, law and order problem, acquisition of land and associated problems of rehabilitation and forestry clearances.

In 2017-18, CIL has been pegged production target at 600 million tonnes (mt) with an annualised growth of about 8.3 per cent over the last year. In 2018-19, the envisaged coal production projection is 773.70 MT with a growth of about 28.95 per cent.

The company had missed the annual production target of 598.61 mt for 2016-17 by 44.48 mt.