Cess on public sector coal production set to rise to fund pension corpus

Financial mismanagement of the pension scheme has depleted corpus meant for pensioners of public sector mines

The Coal Ministry has given “in-principle approval” to a proposal to increase the cess levied on coal production from Rs 10 per tonne to Rs 15 per tonne to replenish the pension fund. This may secure the post-retirement benefits of more than 550,000 pensioners of public sector coal mines.

The Board of Trustees of the Coal Mines Provident Fund Organization (CMPFO) made the recommendation in a meeting last week. A senior government official told 'Business Standard' that the ministry, in consultation with Coal India Ltd and other stakeholders, will soon take a decision about replenishing the corpus.

“Along with the