It is indeed a pleasure to be in touch with the Members of Coal Producers Association. As this is the first time I am communicating with you, please accept my greetings and compliments.
Coal Producers Association was formed in the year 2010 under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 with the Captive Coal Block holders as Members. You are well aware that all the Captive Coal blocks were withdrawn by the Order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the year 2014 and, as such, this association too became somewhat inactive. However, the Govt. of India passed The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 for allotment of Commercial Coal blocks through auction route in which you also participated and were successful in getting Coal blocks. With your co-operation it has been possible to revive the Coal Producers Association and now we have as many as 18 Members, and I am sure more and more block holders who are being approached by the association will soon become our members.
Coal is the main stay of energy generation in the country as this is the only source of energy abundantly available with us. Per-capita energy consumption in the India is rather low as compared to even the world average. To meet the rising aspirations of this great country large energy generation capacities would need to be added and, in the absence of viable & affordable alternatives, high growth in the production of Coal in the country is inevitable. In this national endeavour Commercial Coal Mining by the private sector will be playing a big role. Last year the private coal mining industry had a growth of 34% and produced 122 million tonnes coal. This year the target for the private coal mining industry is 168 million tonnes, which amounts to 35% growth over last year. I feel very confident that our industry will rise to the occasion and fulfil the confidence placed on it.
We have already started interacting with various policy-makers in Ministry of Coal and other government agencies by taking up the problems / issues faced by the Commercial Mining Industry and are making serious efforts to get these resolved.
In this connection, we had a very successful and interactive workshop on 3rd October 2023 in New Delhi which was inaugurated by Shri M. Nagaraju, Additional Secretary & Nominated Authority, Ministry of Coal, Govt. of India. Mr. Nagaraju was highly appreciative of the work being done by the private sector coal miners and assured us that he shall look into the issues raised by us.
Please feel free to reach out to me or the other office bearers of the Coal Producers Association to share your concerns and issues.
I wish you and your family a very Happy Diwali and Happy New Year.
