CONSUMPTION OF COAL BY THERMAL POWER PLANTS

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RAJYA SABHA

The year-wise despatch of coal and coal products by Coal India Limited (CIL) to thermal power plants (TPPs) and the coal imported by thermal power plants for last five years are given below:

(Figures in million tonnes)

Year	Coal despatch to TPPs	Import by TPPs
1998-1999	184.17	0.61
1999-2000	195.76	1.21
2000-2001	208.46	2.41
2001-2002	216.87	3.56
2002-2003 (Provisional)	221.21	3.17

The following measures have been taken by CIL to ensure purity of coal:

1. Adherence to the envisaged mining sequence laid out in the mining method itself.
2. Picking of oversize stones/boulders, extraneous material.
3. Size reduction in coal handling plants/crushing machines thereby segregating different size fractions and eliminating the impurities of higher density.
4. Adopting proper blasting procedure/technique for reducing the possibility of admixture of coal with over burden material.
5. Washing/up-gradation of coal in coal beneficiation plants thereby reducing the ash content in beneficiated coal and also facilitating setting up of washeries in the private sector.
6. Adoption of surface miner for winning of coal to facilitate selective mining.

This information was given by the Minister of Coal, Shri Kariya Munda, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.