Increasing Coal Production More Important Than Restructuring Coal India: Coal Minister

The Coal Ministry is more concerned about increasing coal production than restructuring Coal India, Union Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said.

According to Goyal, the more pressing problem before the ministry is finding ways to increase coal production and sorting out environmental issues.

“There were years of inaction, ineptitude and policy paralysis that the sector witnessed on account of environmental constraints, which were unreasonable to a large extent,” the minister said when asked about the restructuring of Coal India.

Speaking about enhancing coal production, Goyal said, “I am glad that I have discussed the issue with the environment minister and already set up a meeting in the next four days to discuss some of the valuable suggestions given in the meeting.”

He, however, did not answer a question on coal pricing and said that there would be an improvement in the quality of coal.