Aggressive Hunt For New Sources
An Inter-Ministerial Committee has been constituted to monitor augmentation of coal supply and power generation capacity, the Lok Sabha was informed.
NEW DELHI, Aug 9 (The CONNECT) – Hunt for coal is on as the consumption of the black gold is on the rise, the Lok Sabha was told today.
Finding new areas for mining coal and lignite through exploration is a continuous process, Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi in a written reply. There is one sub-scheme i.e. Promotional (Regional) exploration continuing through Central Sector Scheme of Ministry of Coal for exploration of new areas of coal and lignite, he said.
In addition to this Geological Survey of India (GSI) also carries out investigation of minerals including coal.
It may be recalled Dr Jitendra Singh said India is on course to achieve its targets toward climate action like- Reaching a non-fossil fuel energy capacity of 500 GW by 2030; Fulfilling 50 percent energy requirements via renewable energy by 2030; Reducing CO2 emissions by 1 billion tons by 2030; Reducing carbon intensity below 45 percent by 2030; To pave the way for achieving a net-zero emissions target by 2070.
Yet, the government speaks of rising dependency on coal.
The total coal consumption in the year 1983-84 was 130.73 MT in comparison to 1115.02 MT (Provisional) in the year 2022-23 with a growth of around 753%.
Supply of coal to the power plants is a continuous process. To address the issues of coal supplies to Power Sector. An Inter-Ministerial Sub Group comprising of representatives from Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Railways, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Coal India Limited (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) meet regularly to take various operational decisions to enhance supply of coal to Thermal Power Plants as well as for meeting any contingent situations relating to Power Sector including to alleviate critical coal stock position in power plants.
Besides, an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) has also been constituted comprising of Chairman, Railway Board; Secretary, Ministry of Coal; Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Secretary, Ministry of Power; to monitor augmentation of coal supply and power generation capacity. Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Chairperson, CEA are co-opted as Special Invitees as and when required by the IMC.
