After offering a compromise for coal mining in dense forests or "no-go" areas, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh wants the spotlight on issues such as production practices of coal companies, incentives for states, coal pricing and evacuation.
These issues are expected to dominate the Prime Minister's meeting on July 1 on production shortfalls of coal and power. A day after the last meeting of the Pranab Mukherjee-led ministerial panel, Ramesh wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh listing "some of the structural issues that are plaguing the coal sector.
In his note to the Prime Minister, Ramesh reiterated the problem of piling up of pithead coal stocks. This would mean that even though the coal is being mined, it is not reaching the end-users such as a power generating plant. The quantity of pithead stocks has been on the rise.
On April 1, 2011 there was 71 million tonnes of coal which was yet to be evacuated. This is 11% from April 1, 2010, when pithead stocks accounted for 64 million tonnes of the year's production. The issue of piling up pithead stocks is important as it currently accounts for 15% of annual coal production.
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