Union Coal Secretary Anil Swarup on Friday informed that production at 34 Schedule-II coalmines across the country would begin by March 31.
Swarup, after chairing a review meeting and inaugurating a workshop on ‘Monitoring of production and despatch of coal from captive coalmines, in Bhubaneswar, said one of the 34 Schedule-II mines is in Odisha.
“Around 10 mines have already started mining and others are in the process. This will further augment the availability of coal in the country. Coal India has achieved record production this year. There is a surplus availability of coal at power plants this year with inventories of 25 days as against 5-7 days last year,” Swarup told reporters.
He further informed, “We want to ensure that the captive mines also start moving and the review today was to see if there are any problems or bottlenecks. We would attempt to remove those so that at least the Schedule-II mines can begin production before March 31.”
Swarup met mining officials of seven States, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal, in Bhubaneswar to discuss steps to enhance coal production and strengthen logistics and infrastructure.
The Mines Secretaries and Directors of the seven States attended the meeting. later, Swarup held talks with Odisha Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi at the State Secretariat and discussed steps about coal exploration and transportation in the State.