Coal India will exceed last year's production figures-official

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Despite coal production being hampered at Dipka mines due to prolonged rains, Coal India Ltd will exceed last year's production figures, a top coal ministry official said here on Tuesday.

In 2018-19, Coal India produced 606.89 million tonnes (MT),while dispatch was at 608.14 MT. "Coal India's production was nearly minus 8 per cent till October. So in the last few months the coal production has caught up.

Now it has just minus 3.5 percent. And it will go on to be plus at the end of the year. It is going to be healthy percentage over last year's (figures)," Secretary of Coal Ministry, Anil Kumar Jain told PTI on the sidelines of Energies 2020 a biennial conclave.

CIL, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic production, saw its output decline by six per cent to 241 MT in April-September on account of monsoon.

"In fact it would be the highest ever in the country," Jain added. Replying to a query on the spinning of Coal India Ltd subsidiaries into five entities, Jain said though there were some discussions held earlier in that direction, there is no fresh development.

"At the moment that is the decision (Coal India remains as it is)," he said. On the overall coal scenario in the country, the official said the production this year will exceed that of last year, though there was some impact due to rains, by the end of the current fiscal it will be covered up.

"So we will be exceeding the last year production numbers with a healthy surplus. There has been a setback because one of the largest mines and the largest mine in Asia Deepika that has been flooded. So that has impacted the production. But the coal scenario is very healthy in the country. Stocks at the power plants and mines are much higher than the same period last year," he explained.

In September, a non-perennial, seasonal river Lilagarh breached its embankment and flooded the lower benches of Dipka opencast mine of SECL (South Eastern Coalfields), one of the largest open cast mines of CIL with a production capacity of 35 MT per annum.