The Coal Ministry has given “in-principle approval” to a proposal to increase the cess levied on coal production from Rs 10 per tonne to Rs 15 per tonne to replenish the pension fund. This may secure the post-retirement benefits of more than 550,000 pensioners of public sector coal mines.
The Board of Trustees of the Coal Mines Provident Fund Organization (CMPFO) made the recommendation in a meeting last week. A senior government official told 'Business Standard' that the ministry, in consultation with Coal India Ltd and other stakeholders, will soon take a decision about replenishing the corpus.
“Along with the