The Coal Ministry has moved a Cabinet note on a proposed mechanism, which paves way for extraction of coal and coal bed methane from the same block.

Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said, the note is for extraction of both coal and coal bed methane and proposes a new ‘system’ by which both the energy resources from the same coal seam could be recovered. He, however, did not elaborate further on the proposed system, which was meant for consultations at the apex level of the Government. Swarup was in the city to attend an event organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce.

Earlier, the Coal Ministry and CIL had considered options of extraction of CBM and coal through different operators, but certain tricky issues of implementation had come in the way.

The Coal Secretary further said that the Government was in the process of taking an initiative soon to allocate coal blocks in non-end use category to States. “This would allow States or their arms to extract coal for consumers in small and medium as well as household sectors,” he added.

Swarup said the Government has conveyed to Coal India its concern over coal price hike.

“The Government of India owns majority of shares in Coal India (CIL). In the board we convey concerns of Government to keep tariff (power) down. It will have to keep the price of coal down...if Coal India was allowed to fix its own price for profitability then it will fix price 10 per cent below that of imported landed coal,” Swarup said.