New Delhi
As the government gradually plans to shift towards renewable energy in the coming years, the reality on the ground is that India’s dependency on coal is not going to end anytime soon, especially considering the disruptions in supply chains globally owing to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, even the coal ministry is diversifying towards greener options to help the Centre achieve its net zero emission target. Secretary in the coal ministry Amrit Lal Meena spoke at length on various initiatives in the sector as well as on its plan to enter newer fields and the ongoing commercial coal blocks auctions. Railway is the most cost effective and environment friendly medium of transporting coal. Therefore to strengthen rail infrastructure in coal producing states, there is a mandate under PM Gatishakti to allow user ministries to make plans according to their requirements to ensure cost effectiveness and fill gaps to reduce logistics costs. So after discussing with stakeholders, we prepared an integrated coal logistics plan and after superimposing ongoing railway and coal mines projects, identified gaps in coal transportation. We have highlighted these gaps and duly informed the railway ministry. As of now, 13 rail projects are going on to augment railway infrastructure (for carrying coal), namely in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Three of them are complete, while all 13 of them will be completed by 2025. Once this is done, the trunk rail infrastructure will be expanded for coal evacuation. For these 13 projects, Coal India Limited (CIL) has pooled in its resources with the railway ministry and has invested Rs 15,000 crore in collaboration with IRCON and results have been satisfactory.
