July 25, 2008

CIL seeks prompt clearances to meet production target

PTI reported that Coal India Limited, which has set a production target of 405 million tonne in 2008-09, might fail to achieve the target if it did not get land and prompt forest clearance required for undertaking expansion projects.

Mr PS Bhattacharya chairman of CIL said that "Coal India Limited has to produce 25 million tonne additional coal in the next fiscal compared to 2007-08. It is a tough target. If we do not get land and prompt forest clearance for different expansion projects, we may experience a major shortfall."

Mr Bhattacharya said that out of the 25 million tonne additional production in 2008-09, around 21 million tonne was scheduled from Mahanadi Coalfields, Eastern Coalfields Limited and Central Coalfields Limited.

He said that the expansion projects, which required immediate clearances, include Ashoka, Karo and Konar besides new projects like Hura and Chuparvita, all under Central Coalfields Limited in Jharkhand. He added that "We are trying hard to get quick clearance, but everything is not in our hand. We have also sought a very high level meeting to tide over the problem."

Turning to the current fiscal, he said that CIL would face minor shortfall in production during 2007-08. Against the target of 384 million tonne, it would end this fiscal with a production of 380 million tonne.