Govt working to eliminate coal import: Piyush Goyal

The government is working on a plan to end dependency on coal imports in next 3-4 months in order to facilitate consumption of the surplus fossil fuel produced by Coal India.

"When I took charge in 2014, I was faced with the challenge of inadequate supply of fuel. But now after two years we have come to a point where we have surplus coal and we are worried how to sell the surplus," Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said here late last evening.

He was addressing a gathering at the 50-year celebration of council for fair business practices (CFBP).

"To tackle this problem of surplus, my ministry has drawn up an entire programme to see how we can completely eliminate import of coal by any state government or state discom in the next 3-4 months," he said.

For almost 6-7 decades after independence, the country had got used to power and coal shortage but today there is a situation of surplus production, he said.

"The one billion target (of coal production )that I announced was an off the cuff remark for meeting of shortage of coal and I was criticised for this. But today we are worried how are we going to sell the excess production," he said.

Goyal said there is an availability of almost 20 days stock and there is not a single plant in the country which is shut due to shortage of coal.

It was earlier reported that the government has decided to push back its target of coal production of one billion tonne by 2020 as it does not have takers for the produce.

Coal India had set a target of 598 MT of production in 2016-17.