India will stop importing thermal coal from financial year 2023-24, said Union Minister of Coal and Mines, Mr Pralhad Joshi, while chairing “Chintan Shivir”, a two-day brainstorming session organised to find a way forward for the coal sector, in Gujarat last week.
“The Shivir has engaged the participants in contemplating and deliberating to think out of the box to overcome various bottlenecks and provide innovative solutions to the Indian coal sector,” Mr Joshi said while interacting with the media on the sidelines of the Shivir.
Highlighting key takeaways of the Shivir, the Minister said that various ways and means were discussed with key stakeholders to achieve 1 billion tonnes of coal production by Coal India Ltd (CIL) by 2023-24. The Ministry of Coal will coordinate with the Railways and Shipping Ministry and enable CIL, captive and commercial miners evacuate more coal by 2030.
Stressing upon the diversification in the Indian coal sector, he said that ideas have also been mooted for CIL to consider coming up with state-of-art pithead thermal power plants to transform it into an integrated energy company.
