New Delhi: India registered 31 per cent growth in domestic coal production in the first quarter of 2022-23 as compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, Union Minister of Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, adding that there is no shortage of coal. in country.
a cripple power outage It was reported earlier this year, exclusively in April. At least 109 out of 165 operational thermal power plants reported shortfall in coal stocks in April-May. With domestic supply not being equal to consumption, the central government at one point prompted states and power generation companies to import fossil fuels to meet the demand for electricity.
However, Joshi said on Wednesday that India’s domestic coal production will reach 1 billion (100 million) tonnes annually by 2024-25. He said the figure is currently around 820 million tonnes per annum, while it was 577 million tonnes in 2014 – the year when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power replacing the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
Joshi was responding to a question by BJP MP Jagdambika Pal, who attributed the rise in demand for coal between 2020-21 and 2021-22 to domestic production amid reports of thermal power stations facing shortage across the country. Cast light on.
In his response, the minister said, “In the months of April, May and June, India recorded a domestic production of 156 million tonnes of coal last year. This year the production for these months has increased to 204.9 million tonnes. This is an increase of 31 per cent… Also, the government has started the process of auctioning abandoned coal mines in which extraction by Coal India Limited (CIL) was suspended for one reason or the other. This will lead to further increase in domestic production in the next two to three years.”
“There is no shortage. Production has been increasing (for years). In 2014, domestic coal production was 577 million tonnes. It has now increased to about 820 million tonnes. We have produced 1 billion tonnes of domestic coal by 2023-24 But then (the) COVID-19 (pandemic) was there. I am confident that we will achieve the target of one billion tonnes in 2024-25.”
Joshi in December last year Told That CIL, a state-owned corporation, was directed to achieve 1 billion tonnes of coal production by 2023-24.
India continues to see instances of extremely low coal stocks in its thermal power plants For a while, In May, the central government canceled several trains to prioritize the delivery of coal rakes across the country. Later that month, Reuters informed of That the country could face a widespread coal shortage on expectations for higher power demand during the second quarter – which will worsen the risk of power cuts.
India has world’s fourth largest coal reserves, It is the second largest coal producer after China and is home to the world’s largest coal mining firm, Coal India, which accounts for 80 per cent of the country’s domestic production.
(Edited by Tony Rae)