State-run Coal India has reported underground production from its mines at 35.047 million tonnes (MT) for financial year 2014-15, a 2.9 per cent drop from the targetted 507 million tonnes.
The production of the dry fuel from Coal India's mine in 2013-14 was 36.113 million tonnes, according to government data.
The output of raw coal from underground mines in 2012-13 was 37.776 MT, it said, adding that the target for the ongoing fiscal is fixed at 38.56 MT.
"The target of coal production of Coal India (CIL) for 2015-16 is fixed at 38.56 MT for underground mines and an exercise has also been carried out by CIL to prepare a roadmap for achieving a production level of 52.20 MT by 2019-20," it further said.
The Coal Ministry had earlier asked CIL for a detailed subsidiary-wise action plan for improving the output from its underground mines.
Following it, CIL invited bids from both global and domestic companies for providing consultancy for study on underground coal mining in the PSU.
The Coal Ministry had also asked CIL for reasons for less production from underground mines where huge manpower has been deployed.
The Ministry also asked the maharatna firm, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal production, for figures of last 10 years for underground and opencast separately, pertaining to production and manpower.
CIL operates 429 mines, out of which 231 are underground mines.
