Coal India sets production target at 1 billion tonne: Piyush Goyal

Power Minister Piyush Goyal 

GIVING a push to the power sector, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said the Coal India Ltd (CIL) has set a coal production target of one billion tonne. "The target before the Coal Ministry and CIL is very challenging. The aim is to attain one billion tonne of coal production," the Union Minister of State for Coal and Power (independent charge) said at Korba district headquarters.
Power shortage level in the country has come down to 2.1 percent from 4.2 percent, the Union Minister said. Goyal took...
part in a series of programmes in Korba as part of a month-long 'Vikas Parv' being observed to mark NDA government completing two years in the office.
Korba is known as power hub of the state as it has more than ten thermal power plants.
The Minister briefed media about the achievements of two years of NDA rule in the country and also addressed a public meeting at Gevra after reaching Korba where he announced that a medical college will be set up by CIL in the state.
Coal India (CIL), which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal production, has a workforce of over 300,000. Boosted by the output growth of 9 per cent by CIL, the government had earlier asked the world’s largest coal miner to ensure that it meets the target of 550 million tonnes (MTs) output for the current fiscal. The company had missed the production target for 2014-15 by 3 per cent, recording an output of 494.23 MT. The government has set one billion tonne production goal for the company by 2020. Coal India Limited (CIL) as an organized state owned coal mining corporate came into being in November 1975 with the government taking over private coal mines. With a modest production of 79 MTs at the year of its inception, CIL today is the single largest coal producer in the world. Operating through 81 mining areas CIL is an apex body with seven wholly-owned coal producing subsidiaries and one mine planning and consultancy company spread over eight states. CIL also fully owns a mining company in Mozambique christened as 'Coal India Africana Limitada'. CIL also manages 200 other establishments like workshops, hospitals etc. The Maharatna PSU also owns 26 technical and management training institutes and 102 Vocational Training Institutes Centres.