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Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday alleged that the Centre is pressuring states to purchase imported coal, which costs three times more the one produced in the country. He also urged the Centre to remove the requirement of purchasing imported coal, which he said has been increased to 10 per cent of the total purchase. According to a release, Gehlot said the price of imported coal is three times higher than that of provided by Coal India. The chief minister said Rajasthan may have to bear a burden of Rs 1,736 crore if it purchases the imported coal. "The Union ministry of power had issued an advisory in December 2021 to the Rajasthan Vidyut Utpadan Nigam for 4 per cent imported coal blending and in April, it has been made mandatory to buy 10 per cent," a release quoting Gehlot said. "The price of this imported coal is more than three times the price of coal being given by Coal India Limited. Its cost is expected to be about Rs 1,736 crore, which is much higher than th
The country is facing constraints in the domestic coal availability and the rest of the dry fuel demand needs to be met with imports, according to the coal ministry. The ministry has also emphasised that coal block holders -- both captive and commercial -- have a major role to play in mitigating the coal shortfall situation. Domestic coal production is about 800 million tonnes, according to the coal additional secretary, who is also the chairperson of an inter-ministerial panel on coal linkages for the power sector. The inter-ministerial panel met ?recently to consider the requests for coal linkages to central/state sector power plants and to review the status of existing coal linkages. The additional coal secretary stated that "there are constraints in domestic coal availability and the domestic coal production is roughly about 800 MT". "Therefore, the rest of the coal demand of the country has to be met through imports from other countries", according to the minutes of the meetin