The Union coal ministry has decided to lay emphasis on coal supply to small & medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country, according to Union minister of state for coal Santosh Bargodia.
“Coal India Ltd (CIL) has been directed to meet all the demands of the SMEs in India,” he said.
CIL has been focussing on coal supply to core sector industries like steel and cement, besides the power plants in the country.
As many as 20 states in the country have appointed agents on behalf of CIL to handle the coal supply to SMEs.
Bargodia, who was here on Friday, said CIL has adopted some measures to help industries during this meltdown. He said consumers can now lift their quota in smaller lots. The consumers now will have to pay 1.5% guarantee fee on quarterly basis instead of 6% annually for the fuel supply linkage.
Referring to the three-day nation-wide strike by the five central coal trade unions from January 5, demanding wage agreements, the minister said negotiations are going on and it is expected that the problem will be sorted out soon.
Asserting that Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd will perform well this fiscal, he said production and supply would be better compared with last fiscal.
As against the offtake target of 47 million tonne, 32 million tonne has already been lifted and another 22 million tonne is expected to be lifted by the end of the fiscal.
He said growth might go up to 9% as against the expectation of 7%. The growth was 5.5% last fiscal.