Government?s coal mining plans in FY20
The Union Government has planned exploration of 37 coal blocks and 10 lignite blocks along with drilling of 121 coal blocks and one lignite block in the current fiscal in addition to exploration and drilling of coal blocks allocated to Coal India (CIL), according to Pralhad Joshi, Union Coal Minister.

The minister also said that fund of Rs 9.37 billion has been allocated for exploration and drilling of non-CIL blocks in coal and lignite out of which Rs 1.20 billion has to be spent on regional exploration and remaining Rs 8.17 billion to be spent for detailed drilling.

According to the minister, the country will produce 810 million tonnes (MT) of coal in the current fiscal for which targets for Coal India, Singareni Collieries Co and captive and others have been set as 660 MT, 67 MT and 83 MT, respectively.

He also said that maximum use of technology and portal-based monitoring of ongoing projects are in place to ensure timely completion of projects.