Amid widening deficit in supply of coal against the growing demand, the government today said that it has turned down CIL’s plea for scaling down the current fiscal output target to 448 million tonnes (mt) from 452 mt.
“The Coal Ministry has rejected the proposal of Coal India (CIL) for bringing down the coal production target,” the Coal Minister, Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal, told PTI.
Fearing that it will not be able to make up for the slippage in output that occurred during the first half of 2011-12, the state-run firm, which accounts for 81 per cent of domestic production, had asked the Coal Ministry to revise the target.
Mr Jaiswal said, however, that instead he had instructed the company to surpass the target, which was possible and required given the paucity of coal.
The country’s demand-supply gap is likely to reach 142 mt this fiscal against the country’s estimated output of 554 mt. The Planning Commission has already projected it to touch 200 mt in the next five years.
CIL had missed its April-September target by about 20 mt, recording an output of 176 mt against 196 mt planned.
Pleading for the revision of the target, it blamed the inclement weather, including heavy rains in August-September for disruptions.
In October, the five CIL trade unions had assured Mr Jaiswal of their best efforts to meet the production target after their employee bonuses were revised upward to Rs 20,000 per worker instead of the earlier announced Rs 17,000.
The Planning Commission had in September asked the Coal Ministry to chalk out an action plan to ensure that CIL meets its production target for the current financial year.
The world’s largest coal producer had missed its production target last fiscal, recording an output of 431 mt against the revised target of 440 mt.