Developments and issues concerning coal sector, from reforms undertaken and their impact, challenges in land acquisition for mining, need to sharpen focus of logistics as well as significance of operationalising allotted coal mines were discussed on the second concluding day of the National Mines Ministers’ conference here on Saturday.
Stating that the conference, inaugurated on Friday by Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Prahlad Joshi, was another step in the direction of making the coal sector ‘Aatma Nirbhar’ and promoting sustainable mining in the country, the organisers in a release said the Centre had ushered in several reforms in partnership with the States to boost ease of doing business (EoDB) in the coal sector.
In a set of reforms carried out in 2020 the laws were amended for introduction of a liberalised regime of commercial mining with no restriction on sale/utilisation of coal and allowing captive users to sell 50% of production in open market after meeting the captive requirement. The Centre recently issued a policy allowing one-time relaxation to surrender coal blocks by PSUs without appropriation of bank guarantee.
The Ministry of Coal had taken into account the interest of States while initiating the reforms. According to the release, the conference highlighted the significance of support from the States to harness maximum benefits of the reforms.
While the Coal Ministry executes the commercial agreements it is the States’ responsibility to look after operationalisation aspects. Revenue from commercial auctions also accrues to the States concerned. Also, the States were free to frame land compensation policy and the Centre may follow States’ policy if it is better. The States were urged to advise Directorates of Mines and Geology to look after the coal sector as well as in near future since the number of commercial mines is going to increase, the release.
The conference also served as a platform providing an overview of next-gen reforms proposed by Ministry of Coal, including sale of coal through market determined pricing mechanism and coal gasification. A production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme is being readied to support coal gasification by both public and private entities.
