CIL looks to produce 71.77 MT of coking coal by 2019-20

The Dollar Business Bureau

Coal India Ltd. (CIL) has set a target to produce 71.77 million tonnes (MT) of coking coal out of its total production of 1,000 MT by 2019-20.  

Coking coal production stood at 53.8 million tonnes in 2015-16, Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. The initiative aims at reducing imports of coking coal.  

"The enhancement in domestic production of coking coal is envisaged to reduce coking coal imports. However reduction of coking coal imports totally would not be possible due to the constraint of availability of metallurgical grade coal from domestic sources", he said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

On Thursday, Goyal chaired a Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting to review the implementation of mine closure plans of CIL.

The minister underscored that the ministry has undertaken several measures to prepare a closure plan based on extensive study. “In the plan, special emphasis has been placed on efficient usage of water for the purpose of drinking, irrigation after appropriate treatment and ground water recharge.” 

CIL is in the process of signing a memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Forest Research Institute for third party audit of progress of mine closure plans (MCPs), environmental audit, and forestry issues.