Railways can help mine 250 MT coal annually, says coal secy

Vast tracts of coal reserves in India remain untapped, thanks to bottlenecks in transportation.

Coal Secretary S K Shrivastava said as much as 50-60 million tonnes of coal can be extracted yearly by the end of the 12th five year plan, if the connective issue is addressed. “By the end of the 13th pan, it can be as high as 200-250 million tonnes,” he added.

Although India has the fifth largest coal reserves in the world, it faces acute shortage.

According to Shrivastava, if more railway lines are extended to coal-rich areas in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, more mines can be brought under mine developer-cum-operator (MDO) mode. “We have already identified five mines and once the railway lines are ready, we can bring them in MDO mode. We are looking at MDOs in a big and comprehensive way,” Shrivastava told Business Standard.

Private coal miners can bid for contracts as a third party and carry out all operations such as land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation, mining and developing.

They will have to supply coal at a tender-determined price. While Coal India Limited (CIL) holds a near monopoly over coal, private miners like Adani have already won contracts and started operations as MDOs.

The connectivity issue is delaying the release of contracts for Raighad, North Karanpura, Mahpur and Gopalpur coalfields.

The coal secretary said his ministry is in talks with the Indian Railways to end the transportation woes. “We are also meeting the chief secretary of Chhattisgarh tomorrow (on Friday) to talk about these issues. All of us are working in tandem to solve this,” he said.  

Unlike other countries, mineral-rich areas of India are densely populated. Lakhs of people have to be ousted to undertake mining operations. Countries like Australia have large uninhabited areas.

“There are cases where compensation has been paid to the land owners but the land could not be possessed,” said the top official.