Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal today said coal intake is projected to cross 2 billion tonne by 2030, and to meet this surging demand the industry has to adopt scientific mining practices, which besides increasing productivity would also cause minimum damages to the environment.
"Coal requirement is projected to be over 2 billion tonne....To meet this sharply rising demand, we need to accelerate deployment of appropriate technologies and practices that can enhance efficiencies of coal mining while reducing environmental impacts," Jaiswal told a meeting of the standing committee on safety in coal mines here today.
The government is serious about bringing reforms in the coal sector to improving production, safety and the overall competitiveness of the industry, he said and stressed the industry is required to match global benchmarks in every area of its operation and establish the best practices for long-term sustainability.
He said the share of coal in the overall energy mix at present is envisaged to be in the range of 52-62 per cent and 70 per cent of the country's power generation is still coal-based. Total coal demand during 11th Plan (2007-12) is expected to touch 700 million tonne.
Stressing the need for improving safety in mines, he said the trend indicates that over 85 per cent production come from opencast mining while rest from underground operations.
"While accidents occurring in opencast mines can be more easily prevented, we should continuously aim towards achieving 'zero harm' in underground mining," he said adding, the role of the internal safety organisation is critical in the entire chain of mining operations.
To reduce the exposure of workforce to hazardous mining conditions particularly in underground mines, the government is encouraging clean coal technologies like underground coal gasification, coal-bed methane, etc which are comparatively safer as persons are less directly exposed to natural hazards, he added.