The focus of the coal ministry in the next five years will be to increase production of the dry fuel at a rapid pace, and thereby reducing its imports, G Kishan Reddy said on Thursday as he assumed the charge as the Union Minister for Coal and Mines.
“We want to increase domestic production and discourage imports,” Reddy told mediapersons.
The minister noted that ten years ago there was a shortage of coal in the country which resulted in the shortage of power. Ever since the Modi led government came to power, there has been sufficient power availability, he said.
Reddy highlighted that in the coming five years, both the coal and mines ministry will be at the forefront in order to strengthen the country and work as a team. “We will work with determination, dedication, discipline, and devotion,” he said.
When asked about the focus areas of the government for the mines sector, the minister said, “I have just taken charge.. let me review things first.”
The government’s plan to ramp up coal output comes amidst the surge in power demand which is estimated to rise 6-7% every year. In line with the expected surge, the government last year announced an addition of 80 gigawatt (GW) of new thermal capacity while increasing the renewable energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030.
The government is now confident of producing 1.08 billion tonne of coal during 2024-25, an official source had earlier told FE.
The first 100-day agenda of the new coalition government includes operationalizing 12 new mines with a combined capacity of 58 million tonnes in its attempt to boost production, as per the official.
In FY24, the country produced 997.4 million tonnes of coal, up 11.67% from 893.19 million tonnes the previous year. The cumulative production of coal and lignite stood at 1.04 billion tonnes.
For the current financial year, the country’s major coal mining and producing company Coal India has set a target to produce 838 million tonnes of coal as the government plans to stop coal imports by FY26.
The former coal minister Pralhad Joshi had said that the government aims at reducing the import share of coal to 2% in the current financial year and finally reduce it to zero in the financial year 2025-26.