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Higher production curbed coal imports during last one year

Coal imports have come down in the last one year on the back of higher domestic production of the fossil fuel, the Economic Survey said on Friday. "Due to higher domestic production, imports have been coming down since last year," as per the Economic Survey 2015-16. Production of raw coal during April-December was at 447.48 million tonnes compared with 427.27 million tonnes during the corresponding period of the previous year, registering a growth of 4.7 per cent, it said.

The annual target for coal production for the ongoing fiscal is fixed at 700 million tonnes. The gap between demand and supply of coal in the country is being met through coal imports by the consuming sectors. The coal imports in the last fiscal were at 212.10 million tonnes.

It further said as per the recommendations of an inter- ministerial task force constituted in 2014 to review rationalisation of linkages, coal sources for 15 out of 19 cases have been rationalised under stage one and four cases are under process.

"Implementation in respect of these 15 cases would result in savings of Rs 877 crore (provisional)," it added. To ensure timely implementation of ongoing projects, major coal projects costing more than Rs 500 crore and of three million tonnes per year capacity are being closely monitored.

In order to deal with various pending issues relating to clearance of coal sector projects, the government has set up a web portal to fast-track project implementation.
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