According to the Union Minister of Coal and Mines Shri Pralhad Joshi, India will stop importing thermal coal from Financial Year 2023-24. He made this statement while chairing “Chintan Shivir” – a two day brainstorming session on February 18, 2020.
The session was organized to find a way forward for the coal sector – at Kevadia in Gujarat on 17th and 18th February 2020.
Facts
- Various ways and means were discussed with key stakeholders to achieve 1 billion tonnes (BT) coal production target by Coal India Limited (CIL) by Financial Year 2023-24. The Ministry of Coal will coordinate with Indian Railways and Shipping Ministry and enable CIL, Captive and Commercial Miners evacuate more coal by 2030.
- Ideas have also been mooted that CIL could think of coming up with the state of the art pithead thermal power plants to transform it into an integrated energy company. It was also proposed that CIL could generate 5 GW of solar power by FY 2023-24 and could diversify into coal gasification with a target of 50 Million Tonnes by 2030 enabling a sustainable energy mix for the country. All these ideas will be deliberated, studied and examined for their feasibility in detail and based on that, they could be implemented.
- Ministry of Coal will introduce a “Coal Minister’s Award” soon to recognize and appreciate best practices in coal production, productivity, safety, sustainability etc. by the coal companies.
