State's coal production in 2014-15 at 115.19 MT

Coal production in Chhattisgarh stood at 115.19 million tonnes (MT) during 2014-15 ( provisional), officials stated.This was in comparison to 110.14 million tonnes (actual) coal produced in the State during the previous year.The State had already produced 27.857 million tonnes of coal during the period April to June 2015 (provisional), officials stated.

As per Annual Plan document 2015-16 of Union Ministry of Coal, the annual target for overall coal production for 2015-16 has been fixed at 700 million tonnes. As action plan has also been drawn by Coal India ltd. in this regard to achieve production of 1000 Million tonnes by 2019-20, officials stated.

Notably, the Centre has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) each with the states of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh for critical coal connectivity projects to improve transportation of coal .

Agreement for World Bank loan of US $ 1100 million for Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) (Phase-2) have also been signed, they stated.Freight train with speed of maximum 100 kms per hour will pass through Chhattisgarh in the East-West Corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai).The train will traverse through the States of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra as the Ministry of Railways has sanctioned implementation of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) with freight train speeds of maximum 100 Kmph. 

Development of two key Rail corridors in mineral-rich Chhattisgarh is now set to expand the Railway line network by 45 per cent in the State, officials stated.

The completion of 235-km Dallirajhara-Raoghat-Jagdalpur, East and East-West Rail corridor (300 km) projects will comprise a total of 535 kilometers Railway-line during the next two to four years, they stated. 

Chhattisgarh currently has only 1187 route kilometers Railway lines. Chhattisgarh is  also set to earn estimated revenue of Rs51,596 crore from its five mines auctioned among 29 in the country under the provisions of Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 during the mining lease period.The specified end-users of the mines are in the non-regulated sector. The mines are Chotia, Gare Palma IV-4, Gare Palma IV-5, Gare Palma IV-7, Gare-Palma Sector-IV/8.

So far 29 coal mines have been auctioned under the provisions of Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 and the Rules made thereunder.The auction process for non-regulated sector viz. Iron and Steel, Cement and Captive Power was based on forward bidding process where bidders had to submit their final price offer above the applicable floor price.

In case of Power sector which is a regulated one, reverse bidding methodology was adopted where bidders had to submit bids below the applicable ceiling price, which shall be taken as fuel cost in determination of power tariff.Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh recently announced that Chhattisgarh’s revenue collections have increased by 10 per cent as the Central Government had accepted the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission. 

About Rs6400 crore extra funds will now be available for the State. The royalty on mining resources and the auction of coal mines will bring extra funds amounting to Rs2200 crore to the State.