November 15th, the Coal Ministry will sell 39 mines across five states

 November 15th, the Coal Ministry will sell 39 mines across five states

These mines' coal may be used for personal use, for sale, or for any other purpose.

According to a statement from the government, the sale would represent a "further significant leap in the coal sector and taking a step forward, towards making India Atmanirbhar in coal."

On November 13, the Ministry of Coal announced that it was preparing to hold the eighth round of commercial coal mine auctions on November 15. The government plans to sell 39 mines in five states—Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, and West Bengal—during this period.

According to a statement from the government, the auction would represent a "further significant leap in the Coal sector and taking a step forward, towards making India Atmanirbhar in coal."

In 2020, the prime minister held the first-ever successful commercial mining auctions, ushering in the era of commercial coal mining. The Ministry of Coal said that since then, it has held seven rounds of auctions for 91 mines, with a peak rated capacity of 221 million tons annually.

These mines' coal may be used for personal use, for sale, or for any other purpose.

In the next phase, a total of 35 coal mines will be made available; 11 under the CM (SP) Act 2015 and 24 under the MMDR Act 1957. Of these, 21 coal mines have only been partly investigated, while 14 have been completely explored. In addition, four coal mines are available on round 7's second try.

The coal ministry also revealed that it intends to establish new blocks, increase the capacity of existing mines, and increase output from captive, commercial mines in order to maintain an adequate supply of dry fuel for thermal power plants.

"All three of these operational components are making a positive impact and have specific plans to improve even more." The ministry said in a statement that "the production plans for the years 2027 and 2030 will far exceed the likely domestic requirements of thermal power plants in the country, especially that for likely additional capacity."

The ministry intends to increase coal output from its present level of around one billion tonnes per year to 1,404 million tonnes (MT) by 2027 and 1,577 MT by 2030.

Approximately 821 MT of coal were delivered to domestic coal-based power plants in the current year.

The ministry said that it is aware of the need for more coal in order to build 80 GW of thermal capacity by 2030.

While the rise in coal output was 13.02 percent year over year, the growth in power generation for domestic coals-based plants was reported at 8.99 percent. The demand for thermal electricity has increased by more than 20 percent from the previous year in the past three months.