Parliament Question: Policy Reforms in Coal Sector

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COAL LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2883 ANSWERED ON 05.08.2026 POLICY REFORMS IN COAL SECTOR †2883. SHRI ALOK SHARMA: Will the Minister of COAL be pleased to state: (a) the major policy reforms undertaken by the Government during the last one year to strengthen the coal sector and to meet India's growing energy requirements; (b) the measures taken by the Government to ensure uninterrupted fuel supply by improving coal allocation, logistics, coal evacuation infrastructure and coordination with the power sector; (c) the initiatives taken by the Government to promote diversification in coal utilization through technological innovation, sustainable mining and value-added products; and (d) the Government's roadmap to strengthen the coal sector in line with the objectives of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat 2047? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR COAL AND MINES (SHRI SATISH CHANDRA DUBEY) (a) The following reforms have been carried out since April 2025- (i) Mineral Concession (Amendment) Rules, 2025. (ii) Mineral Concession (Amendment) Rules, 2026. (iii) Coal Blocks Allocation (Amendment) Rules, 2026. (iv) The provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 have been decriminalized under the Jan Vishwas Act, 2026 to promote 'ease of doing business.' (v) To promote underground mining in the country, methodology for auction of coal mines for sale of coal with incentives has been laid down. (vi) Underground Coal Gasification provisions were introduced in the commercial auction framework to harness deep seated and un-mineable coal reserves. (vii) 44 private entities were notified as accredited prospecting agencies. (viii) The approval mechanism for Geological Reports was simplified. 1(ix) The Colliery Control Rules were amended to dispense with the requirement of Mine Opening Permission from the Coal Controller's Organisation. (x) Coking coal included as a critical and strategic mineral under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, thereby expediting Environment Clearance, and Forest Clearances for coking coal projects. (xi) A scheme for promoting surface coal and lignite gasification, with an outlay of Rs. 37,500 crore, was approved. (xii) All Coal India subsidiaries have set-up 24x7 monitoring through Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC). (xiii) Koyla-Shakti Smart Analytics Dashboard has been developed for real-time monitoring of coal supply. (xiv) CoalSETU Window: Policy on Auction of Coal Linkage for Seamless, Efficient & Transparent Utilisation by creation of a new window named “CoalSETU window” under the Non-Regulated Sector (NRS) linkage auction Policy dated 15.02.2016 was issued by the Government on 19.12.2025. (b) Coal supply to the power plants is continuously monitored by the coal companies, power companies and by an Inter-Ministerial Sub-Group comprising of representatives from Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Railways, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Coal India Limited and Singareni Collieries Company Limited which meets regularly to take various operational decisions to enhance supply of coal to Thermal Power Plants. The meetings of the Sub-Group Committee are attended by the representatives of the power plants. Based on the requirement and the coal stock position, allocation of rakes is recommended by the Sub-Group. Further, an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) has also been constituted to monitor augmentation of coal supply and power generation capacity. Mechanised coal transportation capacity was scaled up to a cumulative 589 MTPA, improving First Mile Connectivity (FMC) utilisation. Coal Companies have undertaken 8 railway projects under Deposit/JV basis for coal evacuation in coalfields. Out of these, 5 projects are commissioned. In addition, 33 critical railway lines were identified and have been taken up by Ministry of Railways for future coal evacuation. Rail-Sea-Rail route has been promoted as alternative coal evacuation route to de-congest the rail network and scales up to 62 MT at present. (c) The Government is promoting diversification in coal utilisation through technological innovation and production of value-added products, with coal/lignite gasification being one of the key initiatives for cleaner and more efficient utilisation of domestic coal resources. (d) The Government's roadmap for Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat 2047 is based on enhancing domestic production, reducing import dependence, modernising logistics, 2improving coal quality, promoting clean coal technologies and ensuring sustainable development of mining regions. Domestic coal production has increased from 778 million tonnes in 2021-22 to about 1,041 million tonnes in 2025-26. Production from captive and commercial coal mines has increased from 85 million tonnes to about 214 million tonnes during the same period. Moreover, the Ministry has envisaged coal production of about 1.5 billion tonnes and gasification of 100 million tonnes of coal by 2030. ****** 3