vikasmudra desk
New Delhi Dec 6. Coal India’s production declined marginally by 2 percent in 2020-21 as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The actual production was 716.08 Mt in 2020-21 against a targetted coal production of 828.50 MT, said minister for coal and mines in Rajya Sabha today. The government has set a production target of one billion tonnes for Coal India in 2023-24
The decline in coal production is largely due to land acquisition, R&R issues, encroachment issues, delay in forestry and environmental clearances, evacuation & logistics constraints, law & order problems and heavy rainfall witnessed in the coal mining areas in the current year which was around 25% more than the previous year.
Further, rains also continued during the month of October. However, the outbreak of pandemic COVID-19 resulted in subdued demand of coal by power and non-power sector which adversely affected coal despatch. Coal production was regulated due to high pithead coal stock, availability of coal stock at power houses end and less off take.
