We ensured better coal quality, output: Goyal
New Delhi, June 11: The Central government has worked to ensure superior coal quality for consumers along with a focus on lowering the cost of electricity, Railway and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.
Speaking here on the achievements of the Modi government, Goyal said the historic reforms undertaken in the coal sector, including allowing commercial mining, have led to increased energy capacity and fuel efficiency in the country.
The Minister said that while coal production had gone up by unprecedented levels during this period, the efforts towards quality improvement had reduced the amount of coal required per unit of electricity in the country.
"The Ministry has worked for ensuring superior coal quality by setting up third-party sampling procedures. The Uttam app has been launched for ensuring transparency and efficiency in the coal monitoring process," he said.
"Regradation has been done of all mines of Coal India and Singareni Collieries by the Coal Controller.
"Focus has been on the cost of electricity through lower cost and higher quality ... and the Specific Coal Consumption, or the amount of coal required per unit of electricity, has been cut by 8 per cent in the last four years," he told the media.
The Minister also said that the 105 million tonnes of increased production achieved by state miner Coal India in the last four years took almost seven years to achieve in the period prior to 2013-14.
Coal India produced about 462 million tonnes of the fossil fuel in 2013-14 and it ended the last financial year (2017-18) with a production of over 567 million tonne.
In view of the "feeling of coal shortages" in power plants, he said: "Obviously, coal output involves land acquisition, installation of necessary equipment and a whole cycle. As the demand is growing very rapidly in the last 8-9 months, the so-called feeling of (coal) shortages has crept in. The Coal and Railway ministries are working together to ensure that at no point of time, anybody loses the ability to generate power for lack of availability of coal."
The state-run miner had recently said that coal dispatch to the power sector grew by 15 per cent in the April-May period of the current fiscal.
The efforts of the Coal Ministry, the miner and the Ministry of Railways had helped reduce imports of the fuel in the last four years, while previously its imports were increasing gradually, he said.
Goyal also pointed out that the miner had been meeting the demand of power plants amid reduction in coal imports, fall in hydro power generation and increase in power demand.
On the outlook for coal demand, he said: "I think there will be robust demand for coal, going forward. We are trying to encourage power plants, which are based on imported coal, to re-design their capacities so that they can use more domestic coal."
With the closure of some of the import-based plants following a Supreme Court verdict, there had been an increased load on domestic coal, he said.
He described commercial coal mining as the "most ambitious reform" in the sector.
"As far as the commercial coal is concerned, the process is underway. I had some discussions with the unions. We are also looking at more mines being auctioned out for power, non-power sectors," Goyal said.
As many as 89 coal mines have been auctioned and all revenues allotted to coal-mining states, he said.
"Most of the mines were allotted to state governments or state utilities. NTPC, NLC India and some other companies are doing quick work on that, even though some of the state governments have been lagging. We are pursuing them to proceed faster," Goyal added.
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Latest: Trump calls for help to reopen Strait of Hormuz
Dubai (AP): US President Donald Trump said he has demanded that about seven countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open as Iranian strikes continued to rain down on Gulf countries on Monday.
Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest, gradually restarted operations after a drone struck a fuel tank and started a fire. Authorities said it was quickly contained, and no injuries were reported.
Tehran has accused the United States, without evidence, of using “ports, docks and hideouts” in the United Arab Emirates to launch strikes on Kharg Island, home to the main terminal handling Iran's oil exports, as oil prices soared. Brent crude oil was trading near USD 105 per barrel on Monday.
Trump said the US is negotiating with countries heavily reliant on Middle East crude to join a coalition to police the waterway where about one-fifth of the world's traded oil normally flows, but declined to name them.
Israeli strikes have deepened Lebanon's humanitarian crisis, with more than 850 people killed and over 850,000 displaced.
Here is the latest:
Bahrain reports missile and drone attacks
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Bahrain's Defence Ministry says air defence systems have responded to attacks on Monday morning.
The ministry says four missiles and three drones were fired.
Israel sends troops into Lebanon for a limited operation
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The Israeli military says it sent additional ground troops into Lebanon for what it calls a “limited and targeted operation.”
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani says the latest deployment is meant to defend Israeli border communities against attacks from the Hezbollah militant group.
Shoshani says Hezbollah has sent hundreds of fighters from its elite Radwan unit toward the border since the militant group entered the war two weeks ago.
He says Israel carried out artillery and airstrikes on multiple sites before sending in the troops.
Earlier in the war, Israel beefed up the presence of ground troops inside Lebanon in what it says is an attempt to prevent attacks on its northern border towns.
Israeli strikes on South Lebanon kill 3, including 2 paramedics
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Lebanon's state-run National News Agency says one person was killed by an Israeli airstrike early Monday on a home in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Sir.
The agency says another strike occurred after paramedics from the Islamic Health Society, Hezbollah's health arm, arrived at the scene.
The agency says the second strike killed two paramedics and wounded another person.
Israeli military says 70 per cent of Iranian launchers destroyed
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The Israeli military says it has destroyed an estimated 70 per cent of Iran's missile launchers during the first two weeks of the war.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters Monday that while Iran continues to fire missiles at Israel, the number of launches has been greatly reduced.
He says Israel has carried out some 7,600 strikes in Iran, knocking out 85 per cent of Iran's air defences and targeting a number of Iranian nuclear sites.
Shoshani says the war will go on “for as long as needed” and says Israel still has thousands of targets it is prepared to strike.
China has no comment on Trump's Strait of Hormuz request
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A Chinese government spokesperson did not respond directly to questions about Trump's request for military support from several countries to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The Foreign Ministry's Lin Jian, at a daily briefing in Beijing, instead repeated China's calls for an end to the fighting, noting the impact on energy and goods trade.
Trump said in an interview with The Financial Times that the US would like an answer from China before his planned trip to Beijing in about two weeks, and that “we may delay.”
Lin said China and the US have maintained communication on Trump's visit.
“Head-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role in China–US relations,” he said.
Drone strike starts fire at UAE oil facility
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A fire broke out Monday following a drone attack on an industrial oil facility in Fujairah, one of the United Arab Emirates' seven emirates, authorities said.
The Media Office in Fujairah said a drone targeted the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, causing an “advanced” fire.
No casualties were reported.
UAE says Palestinian killed in Abu Dhabi missile attack
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A Palestinian civilian was killed in a missile attack early Monday in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi, authorities said.
The Abu Dhabi Media Office said a missile fell on a civilian vehicle in the Al Bahyah area.
The death raised the toll to seven people in the UAE since the beginning of the war on Feb. 18, authorities said.
EU weighs naval missions to reopen the Strait
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The European Union is weighing two types of naval missions to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“It is in our interest to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, and that's why we are also discussing what we can do in this regard from the European side,” said Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief.
She made the announcement ahead of a gathering of the bloc's foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
Rising prices for energy and fertilisers have brought the war in Iran to the top of their agenda, she said.
Kallas said the EU could expand its Aspides naval mission to protect shipping in the Red Sea up into the Persian Gulf or form a “coalition of the willing” with member nations contributing military capacity on an ad hoc basis.
