Digging deeper: Coal India's 1-bn tonne target to spur mining in states

Just transition goals, ecological challenges in contrast to mining plans

National miner Coal India (CIL), which is targeting 1 billion tonne (bt) of coal production by 2025-26 (FY26), is set to push enhanced mining activity in mineral-rich states.

CIL has worked out a 52-mine plan for meeting the production target. Of these, 13 are new coal mines; the rest are expansions of existing ones.

Jharkhand leads the pack with 15 new mining projects, of which three are new; the rest are expansion of existing coal mines in the state. It is followed by Chhattisgarh — it will have eight new coal mine projects. Maharashtra and West Bengal will get seven