It's right time to completely extract coal for development, says Centre
Coal reserves, additional secretary M Nagaraju noted, are situated in the most backward regions with a high poverty rate. So, the development of these mining blocks will provide the poor people residing in these areas with opportunities for upliftment, he said.
The government on Tuesday said that it is the right time to completely fully extract available coal resources in the country to bring in more capital into investments, develop backward regions and scale up industries.
"Climate change debate is going around. Everyone is now saying that demand for coal may come down after some time. So this is the right time for us to completely fully extract the available coal in the country so that we will be able to bring more capital into an investment, develop backward regions and establish good industries and ensure that the country is progressing on the right track," PTI quoted coal additional secretary M Nagaraju as saying.
Also read: Coal India declares dividend of ₹3.5 as Q4 profits drops marginally
The statement by Nagaraju on increased coal extraction comes as the debate on climate change grows with an assumption that the demand of coal may go down after some time.
Coal reserves, he noted, are situated in the most backward regions with a high poverty rate. So, the development of these mining blocks will provide the poor people residing in these areas with opportunities for upliftment, PTI quoted Nagaraju as saying during the second stakeholders' consultation on the second tranche of the auction of coal mines for commercial mining. the stakeholders' consultation was organized by industry body Ficci.
"This year there was a decline in imports of non-coking coal. But coking coal continues to be on a steady rise," he added as India still imports a substantial amount of coal, he said, both coking and non-coking leading to increased spending of foreign exchange.
The government has offered 67 coal mines for sale in the second tranche of auction of mines for commercial mining. This is the highest number of mines on offer in a tranche after the beginning of the auction regime in 2014, he said as per the PTI report
Recommended Topics