Coal India is trying to achieve a five per cent growth in output for the current fiscal. This is despite hurdles such as the delay in regulatory clearances and issues relating to land acquisition.

“CIL production has been hit due delays in environment and forest clearances, land acquisition and problems like extremism and law and order. Efforts are being made to raise production by 5 per cent this fiscal,” the Coal Minister, Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal, told the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Stagnant output

He further said that the Group of Ministers was active to sort out the issues such as delays in environmental clearances among others.

Coal India's output over the past couple of years has been largely stagnant. Last fiscal, Coal India's production stood at 431.32 million tonnes.

In the April-July period of current fiscal, dispatches by Coal India to Nalco's captive power plant and aluminium plant were 1.828 mt as against the pro-rata annual contract quantity (ACQ) of 1.91 mt.

Similarly the dispatches to NTPC power stations were 36.62 mt as against the pro-rata ACQ of 40.126 mt, said Mr Pratik Prakashbapu Patil, Minister of State of Coal, in reply to another question.

Stock at power units

Mr Patil said the coal stock with power stations has increased from 11.51 mt at the end of July 2010 to 13.164 mt at the end of July 2011. Coal India has offered to supply 447 mt of coal to power utilities in 2011-12 subject to the availability of wagons by Railways at an average of 190.4 rakes per day during the year.

Further, in a bid to plug the growing demand-supply gap, Coal India is looking at overseas acquisition. Besides, it is also planning to start production from the two coal blocks it had acquired in Mozambique recently.

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