Coal Ministry seeks comments for excess coal usage policy

9 MAY, 2012, PTI
NEW DELHI: The Coal Ministry has sought comments from various ministries on usage of surplus coal from captive mines, following an inter-ministerial panel suggestion to formulate a policy on utilisation of excess fossil fuel.

"The Ministry is seeking comments on the draft policy from various ministries, including Power, Steel and Law," a source in the know said.

The development follows Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal stating a few days backs that a policy on the usage of incremental coal would be finalised in a month's time.

The Empowered Group of Minsters (EGoM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, last month asked the Coal Ministry to formulate a policy on the use of surplus coal, the source added.

After seeking comments from various ministries, the draft policy on usage of surplus coal would come up for deliberation in the meeting of Committee of Secretaries (CoS).

"Consequently, CoS will submit its report to EGoM, following that it (the draft policy) would go to Cabinet for approval," another source said.

The draft policy says that the extra coal from captive mines should be given to Coal India (CIL).

In March, the EGoM had decided not to review the earlier decision allowing Reliance Power to use excess coal from the Sasan Ultra Mega Power Plant (UMPP) mines for its another project.