core sector communique

Clean Coal Technologies are Priority of the Government – Shri Sriprakash Jaiswal

The Ministry of Coal has given very high priority to the development of projects based on clean coal technologies. Coal gasification and coal liquefaction have been notified as end uses under captive mining policy and two coal blocks have already been allotted for development of Coal to Liquid (CTL) plants. This was stated by Shri Sriprakash Jaiswal, Minister of Coal, here today while addressing an International Summit – Coal Gas 2011 here today. He said that five lignite blocks and two coal blocks have also been identified for development of underground coal gasification projects.

Underlining the importance of environmental friendly coal technologies, Shri Jaiswal said that the environmental challenges are going to be more stringent in years to come and the coal producers and consumers would need to address the issues for sustaining the projected growth through adoption of state of the art technologies. He said that the Ministry of Coal is focusing on development of clean coal technology and many initiatives have been made in this direction. twenty new washeries for annual capacity of 111 million tones per annum are being taken up by Coal India. Beside this 33 blocks for exploration and exploitation of CBM have been awarded, two blocks have entered in commercial production also. The Minister expressed the hope that private sector would also come up with world class technology which would encourage environment friendly practices in the coal mining area.

The two days conference being organized by the Ministry of Coal and Mission Energy Foundation is being attended by mining experts representatives of Power, Natural Gas, State Electricity Board and government officials. The theme of the conference is “National option for clean, green and sustainable energy.”