By IANS,
Ranchi : Efforts are going on to get coal blocks in three countries, including the US, said minister of state for coal Santosh Bagrodia here Friday.
“We are making efforts to get coal blocks in the United States, Indonesia and Mozambique. The blocks will be of coking coal,” Bagrodia told reporters.
“It is not necessary to bring the coal to India. If the transportation cost is high, then we will explore markets in those countries where we get the coal blocks,” he said.
Bagrodia said that till Dec 24 this fiscal, coal production has registered an increase of 7 percent. “We have set a target of 415-million tonnes production in the current financial year,” the minister said.
Dwelling on coal offtake, he said Coal India Ltd (CIL), the country’s leading coal miner, had 47 million tonnes in stock in April, which has been reduced to 32 million tonnes. The target is to reduce stocks by 20 million tonnes by the end of the current financial year.
The minister said the floating rate of e-sale has ended, and online sales would now be conducted at fixed prices.