First Mile Connectivity Projects for Seamless Movement of Coal

First Mile Projects facilitate seamless movement of coal from the mine to the despatch point along with computerized loading into railway rakes with minimum manual intervention, obliterate traffic congestion and road accidents, and thus mitigate the adverse impact on environment and health around the coal mining projects.

There is no FMC Project implemented /being implemented in Rajasthan.

The all India target of Production of coal for 2023-24 has been fixed 1012.14 Million Tonnes.

The following steps have been taken by the Government to enhance the production to fulfill the domestic coal demand:

1. Opening of new coal mine projects and expansion of existing projects
2. Regular reviews by Ministry of Coal to expedite the development of coal blocks.
3. Enactment of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2021 for enabling captive mines owners (other than atomic minerals) to sell up to 50% of their annual mineral (including coal) production in the open market after meeting the requirement of the end use plant linked with the mine in such manner as may be prescribed by the Central Government on payment of such additional amount.
4. Single Window Clearance portal for the coal sector to speed up the operationalization of coal mines.
5. Project Monitoring Unit for hand-holding of coal block allottees for obtaining various approvals / clearances for early operationalization of coal mines.
6. Auction of coal blocks for commercial mining on revenue sharing mechanism was launched on 18.06.2020. Terms and conditions of commercial coal mining are very liberal with no restriction on utilization of coal, allowing new companies to participate in the bidding process, reduced upfront amount, adjustment of upfront amount against monthly payment, liberal efficiency parameters to encourage flexibility to operationalize the coal mines, transparent bidding process, 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through automatic route and revenue sharing model based on the National Coal Index.
7. Under commercial mining scheme, rebate of 50 % on final offer would be allowed for the quantity of coal produced earlier than scheduled date of production. Also, incentives on coal gasification or liquefaction are granted (rebate of 50 % on final offer) to commence early production.

In addition to above, coal companies have also taken following steps to increase the domestic coal production:

1. Coal India Limited (CIL) has identified and initiated actions for fulfilling all the resources required like Environment Clearance / Forest Clearance, land acquisition, evacuation infrastructures such as mechanised loading through Coal Handling Plant (CHP) / SILO, Rail Projects etc. for enabling projects to contribute to its target as per 1 BT production plan.
2. Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has planned to produce 70 MT by 2023-24 from the present level of 67 MT. Regular liaison is being undertaken for grounding of new projects and operation of existing projects. SCCL has initiated action for developing infrastructure for evacuation of coal like CHPs, Crushers, Mobile Crushers, Pre-weigh-bins etc.

This information was given by Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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