27 mines of Coal India yet to begin production: Goyal

Cites delay in obtaining statutory clearances for delay in production

As many as 27 mines of Coal India having geological reserves of 1,200 million tonne are yet to begin production, Parliament was informed today.

"As regards the non-producing mines of Coal India Ltd (CIL), there are 27 such coal mines," Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said in written reply to Lok Sabha.

The reasons for non production of CIL's mines are delays in obtaining statutory clearances, land acquisition, finalisation of contract, difficult geo-mining condition and development of infrastructure facilities.

The minister said the mines were at different stages of implementation.

Of these mines five are in West Bengal, three in Jharkhand, seven in Chhattisgarh, four in Odisha and eight in Maharashtra, he said.

He further said that as per the information provided by the Coal Controller, Kolkata, coal production has not started in 178 captive coal blocks allocated to various companies. The reasons for non-production of the mines are pending statutory clearances at various levels.

However, he said the Supreme Court had cancelled the allocation of 204 mines out of 218 coal blocks.

Replying to another question, he said, that as on date there are six ongoing projects of Coal India costing Rs 100 and above which are pending/yet to start contribution and implementation.

The projects includes Jhanjra PSLW (R-VI) under ground mine and Narainkuri underground mine.

Of these, three projects are likely to start production next fiscal, one is likely to start in 2016-17 and one in 2018-19.