The government has said it will seek Indonesia's cooperation for the accord of "special status" to Indian companies in the grant of coal blocks, a move aimed at bridging the widening demand-supply gap for the dry fuel at home.
The Ministry of Coal will "... Impress upon the provisional government/regional government to allocate blocks under their special status (most favoured nation type) to Indian government coal companies...," the Coal Ministry has said.
Seeking the allocation of coal blocks on a "nomination basis", an official document of the ministry has said it will be sending a team from the Coal Ministry and CIL to Indonesia to pursue the matter.
The decision to approach the Indonesian government was taken in a meeting of an India-Indonesia Joint Working Group on Coal on November 24 and 25.
Seeking the allocation of large greenfield (new) coal concessions on a nomination basis, the ministry will also impress upon the Indonesian government the need for expeditious environmental and forest clearances, besides smooth land acquisition.
Coal India (CIL), which accounts for 81% of domestic coal production, recently said that it has zeroed in on two overseas coal assets, including one in Indonesia, for acquisition and expects to begin a serious dialogue with the owners soon.
The PSU has put together a war-chest of Rs 6,000 crore for acquisition of the mines.
At present, the country is faced with a coal demand-supply shortfall of 142 million tonnes, with domestic output likely to amount to 554 MT in the current fiscal.