Hyderabad: Despite coal production being hampered at Dipka mines due to prolonged rains, Coal India Ltd (CIL) will exceed last year’s production figures, a top coal ministry official said here Tuesday.
In FY2018-19, Coal India produced 606.89 million tonne (MT), while dispatch was at 608.14MT.
“Coal India’s production was nearly minus eight per cent till October. So in the last few months coal production has caught up. Now it has just minus 3.5 per cent. And it will go on to be plus at the end of the year. It is going to be healthy percentage over last year’s (figures),” Secretary of Coal Ministry, Anil Kumar Jain stated on the sidelines of an event here. “In fact it would be the highest ever in the country,” Jain added.
CIL, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic production, saw its output decline by six per cent to 241MT in April-September on account of monsoon.
Replying to a query on the spinning of Coal India Ltd subsidiaries into five entities, Jain said though there were some discussions held earlier in that direction, there is no fresh development.
“At the moment that is the decision (Coal India remains as it is),” Jain informed.
On the overall coal scenario in the country, the official said the production this year will exceed that of last year, though there was some impact due to rains, by the end of the current fiscal it will be covered up.
“We will be exceeding the last year production numbers with a healthy surplus. There has been a setback because one of the big mines, ‘Dipka has been flooded. So that has impacted the production. But the coal scenario is very healthy in the country. Stocks at the power plants and mines are much higher than the same period last year,” Jain informed.
In September, a non-perennial, seasonal river Lilagarh breached its embankment and flooded the lower benches of Dipka opencast mine of SECL (South Eastern Coalfields), one of the largest open cast mines of CIL with a production capacity of 35MT per annum.
PTI