The government has worked to ensure superior coal quality for consumers along with a focus on lowering costs of electricity, Railway and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.
Speaking on the achievements of the Modi government, Goyal said the historic reforms undertaken in the coal sector, including allowing commercial mining, have led to increased energy capacity and fuel efficiency in the country.
The Minister said that while coal production had gone up by unprecedented levels duing this time, the efforts on quality improvement had reduced the amount of coal required per unit of electricity in the country.
"The Ministry has worked for ensuring superior coal quality by setting up third party sampling procedures. The Uttam app has been launched for ensuring transparency and efficiency in the coal monitoring process," he said.
"Regradation has been done of all mines of Coal India and Singareni Collieries by the Coal Controller.
"Focus has been on the cost of electricity through lower cost and higher quality... and the Specific Coal Consumption, or the amount of coal required per unit of electricity, has been cut by 8 per cent in the last four years," he told the media.
He described commercial coal mining as the "most ambitious reform" in the sector.
As many as 89 coal mines have been auctioned and all the revenues allotted to coal mining states, he said.
The Minister also said that the 105 million tonnes of increased production achieved by state miner Coal India in the last four years took almost seven years to achieve in the period prior to 2013-14.
--IANS
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