“CILs priority is ensuring adequate supplies to the power sector and see that the nation gets power at just price. The aim is to securitise energy at least cost” said a CILs executive .

COVID-19 pandemic has caused hundreds of school and college going students to become orphans in the coal region, which falls under the operational command area of CCL, and are unable to afford educational expenses. CCL has extended financial support to help them to continue their education under its corporate social responsibility scheme, the official said.

In a joint representation, eight industry associations including of fertiliser, paper, textile, aluminium and sponge iron have submitted that the persisting coal crisis is hurting power-intensive plants and small and medium enterprises by forcing them to operate at reduced capacities amid a looming risk of plant closures.

Special forward e-auction, the exclusive window meant for the power sector, accounted for nearly 28 MTs of the total despatched quantity.

"We are committed to catering to the coal needs of the power sector, be it domestic or those dependent on imports, despite CIL being stretched," a senior company official told PTI when asked whether it was capable of plugging the gaps arising out of Indonesian supply disruptions.

The stock is trading cheap on increasing concerns over renewable energy replacing coal-fuelled power, but the numbers tell a different story. The demand is likely to sustain at least in the near-to-medium term. And some analysts also argue that solar cannot substitute coal entirely, especially after sunset - when solar power isn't generated.

State-owned CIL on Wednesday said it has incurred a capex of Rs 10,717 crore in the April-December period of the ongoing fiscal, registering a 37.4 per cent year-on-year growth. The capex of Coal India Ltd (CIL) during April-December period of the last fiscal was at Rs 7,801 crore, according to a company statement.

There is no existential threat to India's coal sector in the short term, notwithstanding COP26 commitments, says Agarwal.

TAI in a statement stated, “Ever since the issue related to shortage of coal was brought to the notice of the Association in the month of July 2021, it immediately approached the Ministry, Industry of Commerce and Industry, Government of Assam to assist the Industry in meeting up with this shortage of coal, arising primarily due to issue related to Coal Mining and Forest Sector."

State-owned CIL on Thursday said it has drawn up plans to boost coal stock at thermal power plants to over 45 million tonnes (MT) from its own sources by the end of the ongoing fiscal.

"At a thumb rule specific coal consumption of 0.67 Kg, that is the quantity of coal required to generate one unit of power, CIL's coal helped generate 507.46 Billion Units (BU) of power during the referred period spurring 22.5 per cent growth compared to 414.08 BU same period last year," CIL said.

Coal India Limited (CIL) has dispatched around 54 MT more coal during April-October period in comparison to the same period of last year.

The upcoming projects, some of which are already operational, would help CIL despatch increased volumes of coal through rail, above the existing capacity, from its greenfield and brownfield mining areas, Coal India (CIL) said in a statement.

The dispatch of coal to the power sector by state-owned CIL rose 22.7 per cent to 291.72 million tonne (MT) in the first seven months of the ongoing fiscal year. Coal India Ltd (CIL) had dispatched 237.75 MT of coal to the power sector in April-October period of 2020-21, according to monthly summary for the Cabinet for October.

The statement assumes significance in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday stating that India will reach its net zero carbon emission target by 2070, as he laid out the country's climate action plan.

The Union coal minister called upon CIL to attain 1 billion ton production by the end of 2024.

Joshi has expressed happiness over coal ministry's remarkable achievement of attaining 22 lakh tonnes coal dispatch to thermal power plants on Thursday (October 28), the ministry said in a statement. In a tweet, the minister said out the above quantity, 18 lakh tonnes have been supplied by Coal India Ltd (CIL).

"Coal production and despatch have now increased and we are supplying about 2.2 million tonnes coal in a day to the power plants, which is itself a record," Joshi was quoted as saying in a statement by Coal India arm Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL).

The maharatnas - Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel), Coal India (CIL), Gail (India) (formerly Gas Authority of India), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), NTPC (formerly National Thermal Power Corporation), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Steel Authority of India (SAIL) - are collectively doing as well as private companies of similar size. SAIL, Bhel, CIL and IOC need serious restructuring and better leadership to make them world-class companies.

Earlier, coal minister Pralhad Joshi discussed ways to improve coal stocks at thermal power plants with railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and power minister R K Singh. The meeting comes against the backdrop of power plants grappling with coal shortages.

Electricity demand in India has soared on the back of recent strong economic growth. But peak demand during September and October is around 175 gigawatts (gw), less than it was in July when demand crossed 200 gw.

​​Non-power sector users are encouraged to take coal through roads," the SECL official said. Subsidiaries cannot decide on regulating supply consumers on their own.

"This is only a temporary prioritisation, in the interest of the nation, to tide over the low coal stock situation at the stressed power plants and scale-up supplies to them. It does not mean stoppage of e-auction format," Coal India said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Coal launched the auction process of 40 new coal mines in which 21 new mines are under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act 2015 and 19 are under the Tranche three of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957.

Maharashtra State Power Generation Co (Mahagenco) had requested WCL to supply 10.5 rakes of coal per day to its power plants in June against 22.5 rakes per day. In the letter, WCL had cautioned that as monsoon has already entered in Maharashtra and likely to be very active in coming days, coal production as well as dispatches may be hampered.

The total off-take has gone up to 1.73 MTs per day during October, till Monday, posting 10% growth over same period last year, companys director marketing S N Tiwary said.

The greenfield aluminium project will include bauxite mining, alumina refinery, aluminium smelter and associated captive power plant by its wholly-owned subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd.

"CIL must diversify its business and explore prospects in sunrise industries electric charging pods, EVs etc," according to Coal Ministry's agenda for 2021-22. It further said that CIL has plans to diversify considering the future restriction on carbon emission which is inevitable.

During the first half of this financial year CILs off-take to power sector at nearly 246 MTs was highest ever for this period so far but the demand from this sector was even higher as an outcome of a sudden spike in coal-based generation to unprecedented levels, it said.

Coal India Ltd's (CIL) production had stood at 40.5 million tonnes (MT) in September 2020, according to a BSE filing.

​​ The committee has been set up with a view to suggest a robust and efficient set of timelines and whether statutory clearances may be obtained prior to issuing tender, the coal ministry said in a statement.

India's top metals and cement makers are hurt by a fall in the availability of coal from state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its subsidiaries, which are sending more of the dry fuel to the power sector while cutting down the supplies to other users.

"Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) on Monday, signed a first of its kind revenue sharing contract worth tentatively Rs 1,880 crore for commercial extraction of coal bed methane with CBM developer Prabha Energy Private Limited, selected through a global bidding process," Coal India (CIL) said in a statement.

"ECL, the West Bengal-located coal-producing subsidiary of Coal India Ltd, commissioned a 250-kW rooftop solar power project on Wednesday ramping up its total installed solar roof top capacity to 692 kW," the statement said.

"CIL has been writing to power gencos since October 2020 not to regulate intake of their coal and build up stock at their end, so that generation do not suffer during the summer and monsoon season due to coal shortage," one of the sources said.

"CIL has stepped up supplies to the power sector in the first eight days of September, clocking around 20 per cent growth at an average of 1.39 MT per day," the state-owned firm said in a statement.

The pro-people programmes have been launched as part of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' (AKAM) celebrations, the coal ministry said in a statement.

"114 coal projects with a sanctioned capacity of 836.48 mty (million tonnes per year) and a sanctioned capital of Rs 1,19,580.62 crore are in different stages of implementation out of which 75 projects are on schedule and 39 projects are delayed," Coal India (CIL) said in its report.

"Launching a multi-pronged effort to help build up stocks at power plants, CIL has offered coal on 'as is where' basis through rail-cum-road mode from sources where high stock is available.

“CILs urgency in shoring up supplies to power plants was evidenced in 104% materialization during the last week of August at an average per day supply of 1.36 MTs against the requirement of 1.31 MTs given by CEA. The last three-day average loading to power went up to 1.4 MTs,” said a senior executive of the company.

Designed by the MCL's Innovation Cell and the Department of E&T, the portal named "Vihangam" for remote monitoring was created by a Mumbai-based startup of drone manufacturing, robotics, and automation. This innovative initiative, which will enable the company to access real-time video through the internet and will pave the way for other allied potential use-cases of drones in mines.

"This has reference to the crisis situation developed for the entire aluminium sector due to the recent ad hoc decision for stopping/drastically curtailing the coal supplies and rakes for captive power plants (CPPs) resulting in coal crunch situation for aluminium sector," the letter said.

The Aluminium industry CPPs have signed Fuel Supply Agreements (FSAs) with CIL and its subsidiaries for assured long-term coal supply. Any abrupt stoppage of this secured coal supply has a severe impact on the SMEs in the downstream sector resulting in increased prices of finished products and burdening end consumers.

As the states started unlocking, the mobility for retail and recreation posted a sharp improvement from around 60 per cent below baseline at end-May 2021 to 23 per cent below baseline by end-July 2021

In a recent letter to CIL Chairman Pramod Agarwal, Hind Khadan Mazdoor Federation President Nathulal Pandey said working norms, rules and regulations of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) are almost the same and similar to the CIL workers.