Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched the country’s first auction of coal mines to private companies for commercial mining and sale in the open market. The PM said commercial mining will unlock the country’s coal sector from the lockdown of decades.
“The country's coal sector was entangled in a web of captive and non-captive. It was excluded from competition, there was a big problem of transparency. Major scams had taken place in coal action earlier, but the system has been made transparent now,” he said.
The ministry of coal will kick off the commercial mining of coal with 41 coal blocks which are estimated to earn the mine-bearing states these blocks will contribute Rs 20,000 crore revenue annually. The PM said with the immense reserve of coal in the country, India should be world’s largest exporter of coal.
The PM also said, there will employment opportunities with investment in the sector. “Eastern and Central India will benefit a lot from this reform. Regions rich in coal and minerals will progress due to these reforms. These are the areas which have aspirational districts. he coal blocks that are getting auctioned today will provide lakhs of jobs in these areas,” he said.
Along with commercial mining, the Centre is also planning to use 100 million tonnes of coal for gasification by 2030. PM Modi four projects have been identified for this and about Rs 20,000 crore will be invested for coal gasification projects.
The PM said the coal sector reforms will have a positive impact on other sectors such as power, steel, aluminium, cement and fertilisers.
“Consumption and demand is rapidly approaching the pre-Covid level. In such a situation, there cannot be a better time for a new beginning,” he said in the virtual address.