Coal gasification is essential: Pralhad Joshi

Mumbai (Maharashtra)[India], May 6 : Union Minister for Coal and Mines, Pralhad Joshi on Friday launched 20 closed and discontinued mines that will help the country to increase its coal supply.
"Launched 20 closed and discontinued mines on revenue sharing for re-operationalisation, in presence of Minister @raosahebdanve ji These mines have an estimated reserve of 380 MT and will help us further increase coal supply to TPPs while creating employment opportunities for locals," tweeted Joshi.
After the launch of the mines here, Joshi said, "I assure you all that today we are doing responsible coal mining. Despite achieving the target set by PM Modi in the renewable energy sector, the country will still require Coal and hence Coal gasification is essential."
Highlighting that the demand for power has gone up by almost 20 per cent in energy terms, the Ministry of Power on Thursday ordered all imported coal power plants to operate at full capacity.
Looking at the emergency situation, the Union Ministry directed all States and all generating companies based on domestic coal to import at least 10 per cent of their requirement of coal for blending.
In an official order by the ministry, it read, "The demand for power has gone up by almost 20 per cent in energy terms. The supply of domestic coal has increased but the increase in the supply is not sufficient to meet the increased demand for power. This is leading to load shedding in different areas. Because of the mismatch between the daily consumption of coal for power generation and the daily receipt of coal at the power plant, the stocks of coal at the power plant have been declining at a worrisome rate."
"All imported coal-based power plants shall operate and generate power to their full capacity. Where the imported coal-based plant is under NCLT, the Resolution Professional shall take steps to make it functional," read the order copy.