Commercial mining will end coal shortage: Former CIL chief P Bhattacharya

Anything short of faster opening up of the coal sector to commercial mining was inadequate as a policy response, Bhattacharya said

2018 has again seen coal production unable to meet rising demand for the mineral. This has again drawn attention to the sector, another reason being the release of a report by a government committee which recommends commercial mining. PARTHA SARATHI BHATTACHARYA, a member of this panel and a former chairman of government-owned Coal India, speaks to Subhomoy Bhattacharjee. Edited excerpts:

Q: There are two ways to describe Coal India's finances. From FY13 to FY18, profit declined by over 60 per cent. The other description is that the first quarter (Q1) of FY19 saw net profit rising by 61 per cent.
 

A: