Union Minister Pralhad Joshi says Government is working to stop import of thermal coal completely by 2025-2026

Mumbai: Union Minister of Coal and Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi today said that the Government is working to stop the import of thermal coal completely by 2025-2026 and a transparent system is in progress for the exploration and auction.

 

The minister was speaking at the inauguration of the first Mining Start-Up Summit at IIT, Bombay in Mumbai yesterday. He said, through this event, the country is moving a step forward towards changing the aspirations of Atmanirbhar Bharat in this sector to a reality. The Minister informed that this first Mining Start-Up Summit has 82 Start-Ups and 140 participants. He stated that dependence on imports leads to a rise in costs and an increase in foreign expenditure. He added that to discourage imports we must have new ideas and thoughts.

 

Elaborating on the development in the last nine years, the



Union Minister further added that from 500 million tonnes of coal production in 2014, today India is the largest producer and importer of coal. He added that the country has the fourth-largest coal reserves. This year the production of coal has reached 850 million tonnes. He also stated that with a lot many changes in the last nine years, stability and ability have added respectability to India.

 

The Minister informed that from 300 Start-Ups in 2014, in the last nine years, the country has touched one lakh Start-Ups and a hundred unicorns; they have created nine lakh jobs and added a cumulative value of 333 billion dollars. He mentioned that this needs to go further. He said that sustainable and optimum mining technology is the need of the hour. For the same, Start-Up technology is essential.