| On an average, international coal prices, measured in rupees per million kilocalories, were 100 per cent higher than Indian coal. |
| Bhattacharya said free-on-board coal at international ports was compared with free-on-rail coal at Indian mines. He, however, did say that the company would push the government for another price hike soon. |
| Coal India, or CIL, hiked prices by 10-15 per cent in December after a gap of three years. Despite being deregulated in 1999, coal prices continue to be monitored by the government as they directly impact power tariffs. |
| "The whole focus of providing cheap power has to change. The pricing of coal has to be looked at from a far wider perspective," Bhattacharyya said, making a case for prices that take into account costs of environmentally and socially sustainable mining. |
| Coal mining often requires massive dislocation of habitation and causes severe environmental and geological damage both over the earth's surface and beneath it. |
| The country has been a witness to periodic coal mine catastrophes claiming thousands of lives and impacting many more. In Jharia, Jharkhand, nearly half a million people are sitting on earth that is blazing from within, fearing everyday that the ground beneath their feet will subside. |
| Cross over to West Bengal, and you find unbridled illegal mining of coal that is giving rise to a parallel economy in places like Asansol and Raniganj. |
| Bhattacharyya, therefore, welcomes the idea of setting up a coal regulator, which he hopes will ensure a greater consideration for the society in coal mining and fair coal prices that will encourage compliance. |
| "The regulator must ensure import parity-based prices. If our coal has heat value of about 70 per cent of imported coal, our prices must be 70 per cent of that of imported coal," he said. |
Top Section
Explore Business Standard