PremiumThe recommendation to phase out coal imports comes at a time when India has just emerged out of a severe coal shortage scenario during April-May 2022 and the Centre has floated tenders for import of coal to meet the surging power demand
Listen to this article |
The parliamentary standing committee on energy has recommended the Union Ministries of Power and Coal to collaborate effectively to optimize utilization of domestic coal and phase out coal imports into the country.
In its 26th report, the committee said the efforts made by both the ministries led to a reduction of coal imports for blending purposes by 56% in FY21. However, it noted that FY21 was an unprecedented year as international prices of imported coal went up affecting the imports by imported coal-based power plants. It led to demand for more domestic coal and consequent reduction in domestic coal stocks at power plants, the panel chaired by member of parliament Rajiv Ranjan Singh said in its report.
The recommendation to phase out coal imports comes at a time when India has just emerged out of a severe coal shortage scenario during April-May 2022 and the Centre has floated tenders for import of coal to meet the surging power demand. The report also observed that the Central Electricity Authority and the Ministry of Power have advised generating companies to take up the import of coal for blending purposes in order to avoid any situation of critical coal stocks at power plants.
"While the committee is urging the ministry to learn appropriate lessons from the 2021 episode, it reiterates its recommendation that the Ministry of power and the Ministry of coal should collaborate effectively on this issue and make concerted efforts for optimum utilization of domestic coal reserves keeping in view the basic objective of doing away with the import of coal in a phased manner," it said.
The committee said that it should be apprised about the strategy being followed in this regard and the outcome thereof.
On 18 July, Mint had reported that Centre is planning to shift the imported coal power plants to domestic coal based plants.
Noting that the quality of indigenous coal can be enhanced to a great extent and the design of boiler of power plants can be modified to enable them to run on domestic coal, it said that there is a need for the formulation of a clear-cut policy that is not only in consonance with the idea of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' but also helpful in achieving the energy security of the country and providing affordable power for the common man.
In view of the country's target of achieving energy security, the emphasis on higher domestic coal production has grown. On Wednesday, the union coal ministry reported a 26.22% growth in domestic production for April-July at 265.65 million tonnes (MT).
According to data provided in the standing committee report, India imported 45.5 million tonne of coal in FY21, down from 69.2 million tonne in FY20. As per the data, during April-September of FY22, imports stood at 16.3 million tonne.
On July 22, Mint had reported that India has firmed up a plan to import around 76 million tonnes of coal to help plug a fossil fuel shortfall at its power plants in the current financial year.
In terms of delay in operationalization of coal blocks, the report expressed its disappointment that not progress has been achieved with regard to the development of coal blocks even though the Central Electricity Authority continues to monitor the progress of operationalization of the coal blocks meant for the power sector.
"Since most of the issues are pending with the state governments, the committee now desires that the matter should be taken up at the highest level to persuade the concerned state governments to resolve the issues so that excavation work can start without any further delay. The committee would like to be apprised of the outcomes achieved in this regard at the time of furnishing the action taken statement," it said.
In another development, the parliamentary standing committee on coal, mines and steel has asked the government to prepared an action plan to promote the indigenous copper industry and taken measures to reduce dependency on import of refined copper and copper scrap.
According to the panel, the consumption of copper is expected to increase from the current level of 0.6 kg to 1 kg per capita per year. To increase the consumption of domestically produced refined copper, the committee said that the ministry of mines should pursue with ministry of finance and the ministry of commerce to give more incentives to the domestic copper industries so that more and more capacity addition projects are commissioned under 'Make in India' campaign.
The report showed that responding to its recommendation of giving incentives to the domestic copper industry, the ministry said that it noted the suggestion and it makes "appropriate recommendation for the promotion and protection of the domestic copper sector to the department of revenue as part of union budget proposals, and to the department of commerce in respect of negotiations for free trade agreements (FTAs)".