The Hindu : Business : Efforts to improve coal sector performance

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 29, 2004

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Efforts to improve coal sector performance

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, DEC. 28 . The Union Coal Ministry has invited suggestions from stakeholders for improving the functioning of the coal sector, while restructuring Coal India Ltd. (CIL) to make it a world-class company.

The suggestions are likely to work their way into the Report of the Expert Committee set up by the Ministry. The committee is headed by a civil servant T. L. Shankar and is mandated to carry out a comprehensive review of the sector and set out a road map.

The committee is slated to suggest measures for bridging the demand-supply gap in the long, medium and short term while mulling ways and means to improve productivity of man and machine in the coal sector, particularly CIL. The need for introducing cutting edge technology will also be debated by the committee, which examine measures required to convert the Ranchi-based Centre for Mine Planning and Design Institute, a Ministry body, into a Centre for Excellence for Planning and Research in the coal sector.

Most importantly the committee will also go into the merits of opening up coal trading while also examining the current policy of providing captive coal mining licences.

It may be mentioned that a 55-million tonne demand supply gap has been projected in the coal sector by the Tenth Plan. This is anticipated to increase to 95 million tonnes by the next Plan, according to official estimates.

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