By IANS,
New Delhi : With coal dominating the political discourse, Minister of State for Coal Pratik Prakashbapu Patil Wednesday said Coal India Ltd (CIL) had achieved over 97 percent of its 2011-12 production target.
The minister informed parliament in a written reply that in respect of the target of 447 million tonnes set for the annual plan of 2011-12, the state miner actually produced 435.8 million tonnes, which was 97.5 percent of the plan target.
Similarly, the Singareni Collieries Co Ltd (SCCL), jointly owned by the union and Andhra Pradesh governments, with an actual production of 52.2 million tonnes had an achievement rate of over 102 percent for 2011-12.
While CIL is the country’s biggest coal miner accounting for over 80 percent of the country’s production, SCCL’s proven coal reserves, which stretch for 350 km in the Godavari valley of Andhra Pradesh, amount to a massive 8,791 million tonnes.
The minister further informed that coal companies under the ministry are subjected to a regime of periodic reviews and production is monitored on a daily and monthly basis at both area and company levels.
Other public sector coal companies reached 76 percent of the production target for 2011-12 with a combined production of 2.702 million tonnes.
The captive mines in the private sector achieved 90 percent of the production target for the plan year in question with a total production of 41.98 million tones.
Independent mining companies are eligible for a captive block provided the company has commitments to sell coal to approved end-users.
Captive mining was used to supply the iron and steel production in 1976, then for power generation in 1993 and finally coal gasification and liquefaction in 2007.
With India’s economic growth, there has been added demand for energy in the country. Coal India has, in fact, expressed its inability to fully meet domestic demand, highlighting the need for increasing coal imports.