Sixth tranche: 27 coal blocks from Odisha are on offer, says Union Minister Prahlad Joshi after a review meeting

New Delhi [India], December 29 (ANI): Union Minister of Coal, Mines, and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi on Thursday chaired a review meeting with the Chief Managing Director (CMD) of the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), officials of Ministry of Coal and Odisha government, and said that the government is offering 27 coal blocks from Odisha in the ongoing sixth tranche of commercial coal mines auctions.
"Chaired a review meeting with CMD of @mahanadicoal, officials of @CoalMinistry and Odisha Government. 27 coal blocks from Odisha are on offer in the ongoing 6th tranche of commercial coal mines auctions," Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said in a tweet.
During the review meeting, he urged scaling up offtake to match coal production.
"Emphasised optimising the use of facilities at Paradip Port for coal transportation. The port has spare capacity to the tune of 30 MTPA (28 Rakes) which thermal power plants can gainfully utilise. Also urged on scaling up offtake to match coal production," his Tweet added.
Earlier on December 25, during the recent Parliamentary session, Pralhad Joshi informed that the demand for coal in India will continue and is likely to peak between 2030-2035.
Coal is the major source of energy in India.
In 2022-23 (April-October), the coal consumption in coal-based power plants increased to 447.6 million tonnes (MT) as compared to 398.2 million tonnes during the same period of last year with a growth of 12 per cent, the minister said in a written reply.
"Being an affordable source of energy with substantial reserve, coal is going to stay as a major source of energy in the foreseeable future. The country will require base load capacity of coal-based generation for stability and also for energy security," Joshi said.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy plans to achieve about 50 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.
So far, a total of 172.72 GW of capacity from non-fossil fuel sources has been installed in the country as of October, which includes119.09 GW RE (includes Solar 61.63 GW, Wind 41.84 GW, SHP 4.92 GW and Bio-Power 10.70 GW), 46.85 GW Large Hydro and 6.78 GW Nuclear Power capacity. (ANI)