Mines minister Piyush Goyal, who took charge of his new office on July 6, has said in order to make the upcomingmineral auction a success, states will have to cooperate with the central government in making land available.
“The states will have to support and cooperate in getting land. The Centre alone cannot do it,” Goyal said at a luncheon meet with reporters here.
The newly-appointed minister also said, he would ensure that better mineral blocks are put up for sale in the coming auctions.
Goyal alleged that the mines that were put up for sale under the previous government’s (UPA) regime were not good quality mines. Those mines were in deep forests or were so small in size that it was unviable to conductmining activities.
Mine auction of non-coal minerals received a lukewarm response from the companies on account of subdued commodity market situation.
Goyal said his effort would be to bring in technology in the mining sector that would help in streamlining the industry. He added that technology will yield greater results for the sector.
BENGALURU: Government is in talks with the US over a dispute at global trade body WTO on a solar mission and would decide on filing suits against the western country based on the outcome of the talks, Union Power Minister PiyushGoyal said today.
“The Indian government believes in discussion, dialogue, consultation and resolution of issues, rather than going through the legal processes, which are usually long-drawn,” he told reporters here.
“Therefore, after having acceded to that request, consultations are going on. Should the United States agree to our point of view, which is a very honest and fair point of view. We may not need to file those cases. If they do not agree with our point of view, we can always file those cases,” he said.
The Minister, who was here to review Karnataka’s coal, power and mining sectors, said the government was on the verge of filing seven of the 16 cases initially after receiving the request from the United States for bilaterla discussions and consultations.
India’s ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission was in the eye of a storm after the US filed a case in WTO against the government’s support to the programme.
The WTO had subsequently ruled that the government’s support to the programme contradicts trade-related investment measures signed by India. The solar mission aims to generate one lakh MW of electricity through solar installations.
On ultra mega power projects, Goyal said the union cabinet would take an early decision on the standard bid document which will facilitate auctioning of domestic coal-based four or five UMPPs.
“UMPP is now before the cabinet. I am sure it will take an early decision on this,” he said. The government was looking at making sure that these projects were not afflicted with problems including environmental clearances, which earlier UMPPs faced.
He also said the country was having surplus power capacity, as of now, and there was no pressing and tearing hurry, and would rather do it smartly and efficiently.
Asked about coal linkage policy for regulated sector, Goyal said it could happen any day, adding the government was running a transparent process and there would be an equal opportunity given.
Most of the linkages will be given to the states so that they can use them efficiently for their power purchase.
“Finally, we will have a situation where coal linkage and power purchase agreement will be packaged into one so that the stranded power plants also get chance to re-function,” he said.
On state-run Coal India Limited approving buyback of 10.89 crore shares worth Rs 3,650 crore, Goyal said the investors would benefit from it and the move was a reflection that the PSU was performing ‘exceedingly well’.
BENGALURU: Coal problems are now history and the target is to further boost domestic production to cut down on the imports that will result in savings to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore this year, Union Power Minister PiyushGoyal said today.
“Coal problems are history in India. Last year, the reduction in imports of coal saved Rs 24,000 crore and this year the target is Rs 40,000 crore,” he told reporters here.
The Minister was in the city for reviewing issues related to power, coal, renewable energy and mines sectors with Karnataka government.
From 2-3 days stock of coal available to power plants to 51 days stock, it was a reflection of the hard work and commitment of all mine employees, Goyal said.
He also said the country should look at doubling its mineral output in the next 3 to 4 years and become a net exporter of minerals.
Goyal said he had requested Karnataka government to come up with plans for rapid expansion of output of mines and creation of jobs in the state.
On Karnataka government signing central power scheme UDAY, even though it has accepted only the operational efficiencies and not its financial aspects, he said union government was willing to help the state in every possible way.
“The Central government has been requesting Karnataka government to sort out right of way issues so that transmission lines can be laid out smoothly,” he added.
In the last 2 years, the capacity of the Southern grid has been increased by 71 per cent, he said.
Goyal said there were four ongoing power projects linking various states to bring surplus power from the central grid to Karnataka but these had been stalled for last several years due to demand of high compensation.
Karnataka government had now agreed to provide all assistance to complete these projects, Goyal said, adding, once operational these would help the state in getting additional power.
The centre has also approved a Renewable Energy Management Centre for Bengaluru to support large scale grid integration, Goyal added.
In a bid to increase transparency in mining sector, the government will set up a web portal in a months time to facilitate interactions among mine owners, the Centre and states for speedy response to different queries.
“I have instructed my officials to put up within 30 days an online interface between mine owners, the Centre and the states, so that every query is available on the website, including timelines for response to those queries,” Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines minister Goyal told reporters here. The minister said this one-month period is for creating the entire infrastructure for the portal including software development.
The minister was of the view that this is in the interest of transparency, so that nobody can delay approvals for extraneous reasons. Goyal also talked about District Mineral Foundation under New National Mineral Exploration Policy (NMEP), which is expected to raise funds to the tune of Rs 6000 crore from mining sector.
The funds generation under the new policy will be utilised for those affected by direct mining-related operations such as excavation, mining, blasting and waste disposal. The fund will also be used to address indirect impacts like contamination of water, soil and air quality, reduction in stream flows and depletion of ground water levels. The minister was of the view that the funds so collected under the DMF would be more than what could be spent in many cases.
Source Link: http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/portal-for-responding-to-miners-queries-in-a-month-goyal-116071101042_1.html
NEW DELHI: Coal block auctions and allotments have generated Rs 2,237 crore revenue till May this year, power, coal, renewable energy and mines minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.
“As on 31 May, the revenue already generated from the allocation of 74 coal mines under the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, is Rs 2,237 crore (excluding royalty, cess and taxes), which shall be devolving entirely to the coal bearing state concerned,” Goyal told the RajyaSabha in a written reply.
The government has so far allocated 75 coal mines for specified end use, including 31 through auction and 44 through allotment to public sector units.
The minister said the expected revenue of these mines is estimated at over Rs 3.53 lakh crore during the life of mines.
NEW DELHI: The country can achieve as high as 50 per cent growth in electricity production up to 1.65 trillion units next year, Power Minister PiyushGoyal said today.
“We need to double our power production. Given the infrastructure and generating capacity we have today…we have the ability to double our power production. If tomorrow we need to add 50 per cent power to our system I am ready for that. We are making about 1.1 trillion units of electricity annually now …We can go up to 1.65 next year,” Power, Coal and Mines Minister Goyal said at INFOCOM 2016 here.
The minister termed power shortages cited by the states as “technical” arising out of mismanagement.
“Very often states do’t buy and show shortage…there is a mismatch between availability of power and capacity of states to purchase and distribute to last mile connectivity.,” he said.
he minister said there was surplus production of coal now unlike in the past when two-third of India’s power plants were left with only critical coal stocks.
“We have brought in enough coal into the system. Today in the entire country not one power plant has critical coal stock against 2/3rd of the when I became the Minister… As a nation for 55 days if not a single kilo of coal is produced you will have power,” he said.
The minister said Rs 1.11 lakh crore would be pumped in for technological upgradation of power infrastructure through various schemes for rural and urban India.
He added that the government was trying to ensure 24×7 power supply to each household by 2019, three years ahead of the target. Prime Minister NarendraModi had announced providing power to the last household by 2022.
Goyal said renewable energy has received unprecedented thrust in India and he has handpicked a joint secretary level official from Prime Minister’s office to focus on solar rooftop for which a target to reach 40,000 MW by 2022 has been fixed from a mere 200 MW when he assumed charge fo the Ministry.
About the entire solar energy, he said the government wants to take it to 100,000 MW from a mere 2,400 MW when he assumed office.
He said technology was used in augmenting solar power capacity in the country.
NEW DELHI: India is looking at ramping up nuclear energy production in a big way with renewed thrust on clean energy resources, Union Minister PiyushGoyal today said.
“Prime Minister NarendraModi has given nuclear energy a renewed thrust. We got into nuclear engagement with US in 2008 but from 2008 to 2014 we have seen a hiatus now we are into missile technology regime.The amount of progress done in the last two years is pronounced as we are poised to enter into the nuclear age in a big way,” Power, Coal and Mines Minister Goyal said at Infocom 2016 here.
Goyal said the country is looking at “ramping up its clean energy source significantly” without compromising on safety of people and the government would ensure that power from this source is affordable.
“We will never compromise on safety of our people as we will ensure power is affordable with these two caveats we are very keen to promote nuclear energy in a big way. we are able to get uranium supplies,” the minister said.
He added the country is close to setting a technology framework and is very close to getting into the nuclear suppliers group.
At the same time he said there was need to do away with fear psychosis and cited example that Kerala does not permit any nuclear station while in Jaitapur in Maharashtra there is an agitation going on.
India at present has a nuclear power capacity of about 6,000 MW.
Goyal said the country has significant resources of thorium in the southern coastline of Tamil Nadu but the technology is still not tested and tried.
He expressed hope that the technology would soon be proven so that the indigenous raw material, important for country’s energy security could be utilised fully.
He added that hydro-power is one sector which is also government’s focus area and Finance Minister ArunJaitely has convened a meeting tomorrow to discuss the hydro power sector.
Goyal said four or five ministers besides officials will be present in the meeting.
NEW DELHI: To safeguard country’s power plants from any possible cyber attack, government is trying to evolve a mechanism and has entrusted the task to a retired IPS officer to come out with a framework, Union Minister PiyushGoyal said today.
“I have just engaged an IPS officer who just retired to help us create an architecture against cyber attacks on the power infrastructure,” Power, Coal and Mines Minister Goyal said at Infocom 2016 here.
Terming cyber attacks as “clearly a very serious issue”, the Minister acknowledged that “we do’t have as robust a technological framework or a backbone to protect against the kind of hackers we have today.”
Goyal said that unfortunately the hackers these days are a step ahead and even the most developed nations faced the problems in this regard.
“Today, the situation is that even the most developed Western countries are finding a lot of problems. They have gone to hack I am told even the records of the Pentagon …So clearly at the end of it we all have to worry about that and I am particularly concerned about it …We are looking at what can be done,” he said.
He added that if there is a hacker then somebody is there who can detect the hacker.
The Minister stressed that these kinds of technological challenges will keep coming on and ways have to be evolved to tackle them.
Terming technology as a tool to progress, the Minister said from 20 to 30 years from now things would completely change lives with digital disruption impacting lives in a big way and cited example of companies like Uber and Airbnb who progressed without owning assets.
He said even his ministries have plans to cut travel costs by 50 per cent by holding meetings through video conferencing.
“In my own Ministries, we have a target to cut travel bills by 50 per cent. Video conferencing is more efficient,” the Minister said.
He said Internet of things (IOT) promises digital realm and said a focused approach was needed towards encouraging the IOT.
“We are using cloud technology more and more now. Earlier the fear used to be that if you are putting the data into cloud, there will be compromise on security. People are realising that putting in cloud does not compromise, one can have fireballs…As a nation one should look at more focused Internet usage to able to leverage IOT to impact the various programmes of the government of India,” he said.
He added that technology was used in a big way to prevent collapse of grids and cited example of Hudhud cyclone in Visakhapatnam in 2012 when its progress on ocean was monitored until it came close enough and entire grid was shut down in phases as it progressed.
The Minister added that within three to four days the grid had resumed operations without any catastrophic losses of life due to technology.
NEW DELHI: The government will ensure that coal demand of states, PSUs and small players is fully met before opening the sector for commercial mining by private companies, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said today.
In the first stage, the coal blocks under commercial mining will be given to states and PSUs “then gradually (the government would) go down to the next level.”
“Today I want to make sure that all requirements of the states are fully met first and the small people so that it may not happen that the private miners come and the price of coal gets disturbed,” the Power Minister said.
He said the next round of mines auction would take some more time as the government is still watching the international market pricing.
Last month, the government had said the coal ministry is likely to come out with an approach paper for formulating a detailed policy on commercial coal mining by March.
“Earlier, we were thinking to open up the coal sector for commercial mining for the private sector in the current fiscal. But it is likely that there would be some delays,” Coal Secretary Anil Swarup had said.
He had said the government did not get “too many” responses in the last auction and Coal India has also increased its production to meet the demand.
“So, we will take a look at the market situation before we put up the blocks for commercial mining for private companies,” Swarup had said.
The government plans to put up coal blocks for auction to private players for opening up the coal sector for commercial mining.
Vanijya Bhawan, 16, Akbar Rd, New Delhi - 110001
Lok Kalyan Karyalay - 56, Balasinor Society, SV Road, Opp Fire Brigade, Kandivali West, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400067