India's Coal Shortage is Over, Says Minister

New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) The government is promoting modern technologies to boost efficient coal extraction and fuel shortages have become a thing of the past, Minister of State for Coal and Mines Satish Chandra Dubey said on Tuesday.

"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, coal shortages have become a thing of the past," Dubey was quoted as saying in a statement.

The minister is on a two-day official visit to the operational areas of Coal India arm South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL), the statement said.

He further said that the coal ministry is actively promoting modern technologies to boost safe and efficient coal extraction and commended SECL for its adoption of cutting-edge equipment.


Using advanced technologies like Continuous Miner, our goal is to enhance underground coal production and achieve a target of 100 million tonnes from underground mines by 2030," he said.

State-owned CIL's coal production dropped by 8.5 per cent to 57.8 million tonnes (MT) in June even as the government aims to increase the output to reduce the dependency on imports.

The coal production by the PSU was 63.1 MT in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal, Coal India Ltd (CIL) said in a regulatory filing.

The coal output by the PSU in the first three months of the current fiscal also dropped to 183.3 MT, over 189.3 MT produced in the April-June period of the previous financial year. The company, however, did not give a reason for the decline in coal production.