Page 656 - ES 2020-21_Volume-1-2 [28-01-21]

Industry and Infrastructure 283

importing 248.54 MT of coal in FY20, a growth of 5.7 per cent over FY19. The energy supply
in India is heavily coal-dependent. Nevertheless, the GoI has taken many measures to strike a
balance between energy needs and environment friendliness (Box 3).

Figure 21a: Coal Production Figure 21b: Demand and Supply
in India (MnT) of Coal (MnT)

750 728.7 729.1 1000
900
700 675.4 800
657.9 700
600
650 639.2
500
400
600 300
200
550 100
0

500 FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20
FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 Import Domestic Supply Demand

Source: Survey calculations based on Ministry of Coal’s data.

Box 3: Measures Taken by GoI in the Coal Sector

A. Clean Coal
• Creating carbon sink: About 54500 ha land has been brought under green cover by planting 132
million trees - estimated carbon sink of 2.7 lakh tonnes of CO2 equivalent/year. Plan to cover
20000 ha of additional area by plantation of around 50 million trees by 2030.
• Two Coal Bed Methane (CBM) Projects with considerable potential for carbon footprint
reduction are in the pipeline
• Surface coal gasification projects (100 million tonnes (MT) coal by 2030) with relatively lesser
carbon footprint.
• First mile connectivity projects: transportation of coal from pitheads to dispatch points.

B. Amendment in Act & Rules and other measures
• Several amendments were brought into the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 through
the Mineral Laws (Amendment) Act, 2020 enacted on 13.03.2020.
• A total of 11 coal blocks are allocated under Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development)
(MMDR) Act. Further, directions had been issued to Nominated Authority for allocation of 25
coal blocks by auction for sale of coal
• Of the auction of 38 coal mines for commercial mining in June-2020, 19 were successfully
auctioned (a success rate of 50 per cent as compared to 30 per cent in the past).