Goyal asks CIL for action plan to augment output by 150 MT

Asks coal companies to draw the demand-supply graphs of coal after taking realistic inputs from the Central Electricity Authority

Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal has directed state-owned CIL and its subsidiaries to submit an immediate action plan to augment their output by 150 million tonnes (MT) within a year.

"Minister of State for Coal...Directed CIL and its subsidiaries to submit an immediate action plan for enhancement of coal production by 150 million tonnes within one year .i.e June 2015," an official source said.

The minister assured all support to Coal India Ltd (CIL) in this regard

He also asked coal companies to draw the demand-supply graphs of coal after taking realistic inputs from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).

The Minister has asked coal companies to evolve a mechanism for augmentation of production and the requisite quantity and quality to be supplied to the power stations, which has already been set up, the source said.

Coal India's mine planning & consultancy company CMPDIL is of the view that the addition of 150 MT coal production in one year would require additional evacuation facilities.

State-owned CIL, which accounts for over 80% of domestic coal production, achieved an output of 33.1 MT in July, missing its target of 35.80 MT.

CIL had missed its output target of 482 million tonnes for 2013-14, producing 462 million tonnes during the period.

Production fell short of target because of various reasons, including lack of environment clearance to coal mining projects.

In 2012-13, the company produced 452.5 million tonnes of coal, falling short of the 464 MT target.

Coal India's production target for 2014-15 has been set at 507 MT, while the offtake target is 520 MT.