The country will require coal for the next 30-40 years to maintain its energy security, said Prahlad Joshi, Union Minister for Coal and Mines on Wednesday.
The minister also emphasised that the government aims at reducing the import share of coal to 2% in the nextfinancial yearand finally reduce it to zero in thefinancial year2025-26.
“The demand for power is rising and to cater to the rising demand, we will need to produce more coal,” the minister said addressing the gathering at the 9th tranche of coal block auction.
The coal ministry has put up 26 coal blocks in its latest tranche of coal auction of which seven are fully explored and 19 are partially explored. The government aims at enhancing the participation of more private players in the coal sector with its latest auction of coal mines.
The coal blocks from the state of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have been put under the 9th tranche of auction, coal secretary, Amrit Lal Meena said. Five mines from Jharkhand and one from Telangana has also been put under auction.
“Additionally, five coal mines are being offered under the 2nd attempt of round 7 of commercial coal that includes four CMSP (Coal Mines Special Provisions) Act coal mine and one under the MMDR (mines and minerals development and regulation act) coal mines,” the government said. Of these, four is fully explored, and one is partially explored.
Further, to ease the participation of players in the auction, the government has removed eligibility criteria and any restriction on the sale or utilization of coal.
“For ease of doing business, the coal ministry has conceptualized a Single Window Clearance System (SWCS) portal to create a platform to obtain various clearances for the early operationalization of coal mines,” the government had said.
The country’s power demand is likely to touch 335 GW by the year 2030 from the current 240 GW and India will continue to rely on coal to meet this rising demand. The government has also revised its plan to increase the country’s coal-fired capacity to about 80 GW by 2030 instead of 51 GW planned earlier.