Government to boost domestic coal production to reduce imports

Government to accommodate clean fuel and coking coal under cooking fuel under PMUY, and pen ways to increase local production.

Demand of coal is higher than the current level of domestic supply of coal in the country. The gap between demand and domestic supply of coal cannot be bridged completely as there is insufficient availability and reserve of prime coking coal in the country. Further, coal imported by power plants designed on imported coal and high grade coal required for blending purposes is also imported in the country as this cannot be fully substituted by domestic coal as the country has limited reserve of high grade coal. As per the current import policy, coal is kept under Open General License (OGL) and consumers are free to import coal from the source of their choice as per their contractual prices on payment of applicable duty. Government of India does not interfere in this matter.

The total actual demand of coal during 2020-21 was 906.13 Million Tonnes (MT). Out of which total coal import was 215.25 MT (23.75 percent of the total requirement). Coking coal mission has been launched for increase in the coking coal production from present 45 MT to 140 MT by 2029-30. This will help in reducing the import of coking coal as it can be blended with high grade imported prime coking coal for steel manufacturing.

Latest technology e.g. Continuous Miner for underground mines, surface miner for opencast mines, latest HEMMs etc. are already in vogue for production of coal in the country.

Cooking fuel and LPG

Talking about the clean fuel for cooking and non-coaking purpose, the government has taken several steps to ensure that all households in the country have access to clean cooking fuels. The government launched Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in 2016 to provide clean cooking fuel to poor households and the target to provide 8 crore deposit free LPG connections was achieved in September, 2019. To cover remaining households under PMUY, Ujjwala 2.0 was started on 10th August, 2021 on pan India basis to provide additional one crore LPG connections along with free first refill and stove. As on 01.03.2022, OMCs have released 1 crore LPG connections under Ujjwala 2.0.

Moreover, various other steps are being initiated to ensure that all households in the country have access to clean cooking fuels, which include hassle free connections, 5 kg cylinders, secondary connections for an existing domestic LPG consumer, option to apply online for new connection including PMUY and release of e-subscription vouchers, organizing LPG panchayats and public awareness campaigns involving State/UT Governments, etc.

Further, the government has approved to release of additional 60 lakh LPG connections under Ujjwala 2.0 on existing modalities. State/UT-wise details of LPG connections released under PMUY as on 01.03.2022 since inception of the Scheme are at Annexure.