Production from CIL's 46 projects delayed: minister

The government today said production from 46 projects of Coal India (CIL), world's largest coal producer, was delayed due to various reasons, including environmental hurdles.

Of these, 11 projects of the navratna firm were behind schedule because of unavailability of both forestry and environmental clearance. While 14 projects of the firm got delayed due to land acquisition and relief and rehabilitation (R&R) issues, Minister of State for Coal Pratik Prakashbapu Patil said in a reply to the Rajya Sabha.

"Nine projects are delayed due to lack of participation in bids, 2 projects are delayed due to adverse geological conditions and 5 projects due to reasons like delay in shaft sinking activity, delay in supply of equipment, delay in contractor etc," Patil said.

"In addition to the above, 5 major projects of X Plan, with an aggregate capacity of 35 million tonne could not be taken up for want of forestry clearance," he added.

The Coal India, the minister said, has taken various measures to fight with the problems delaying the production from the projects.

It has undertaken vigorous follow up action with land acquisition officials to fast-track acquisition proceedings. It has also held regular meetings with state authorities to solve acute problems.

"Forest officials are contacted on regular basis... Periodical contacts are done with the regional office of MoEF (Ministry of Environment and Forest), New Delhi for expediting clearance of the forestry proposals," the minister said.

The minister also said domestic coal production fell short of target over the last three years due to various problems like environmental clearances and land acquisition problems among others.