As found and depicted by Spark from time to time, Indian coal mines have hardly managed to meet the demands. Coal shortage has also added to the woes of power sector. Spark found that Coal Minister is expecting 15-20% coal shortage in this year.
In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Coal Minister said that the ministry is facing shortage as production could not be ramped up due to delays in environment clearances.
Coal Minister explained that the delays in the extraction forced cancellation of 14 coal blocks.
However, Coal Minister said he will not stop e-auctions till logistics issues solved and will mull reducing e-auction after inventory reduction.
The proposal for auctioning coal blocks through competitive bidding was mooted for the first time over two years ago. Parliament had also approved amending the MMDR Act to facilitate this process.
While for some an ideal world would see no reliance on thermal coal (steam coal) to produce electricity, coal statistics would suggest the commodity isn't going anywhere. Coal reports show if we have to live with it, we may as well reduce the impact of coal and CCS seems to be the best solution found to date. Angie www.coalportal.com
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