Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has emphasised the need to facilitate the production of coal through proactive measures to meet its increasing demand. Addressing the roundtable conference on Coal in New Delhi today, he said, the gap in demand and supply from domestic sources may exceed 200 million tonnes in the XIIth Plan period and the country should be well prepared for this.

He expressed concern over slow progress of captive coal mining projects. According to an official release, Mr. Jaisawal said early solutions need to be found for various problems facing the coal sector so that the economy can go ahead with the planned growth rate and the coal sector is enabled to play its rightful role in fuelling this growth.

The Minister also said that coal mining has left an adverse impact on the environment over the period and the credibility of the sector needs to be improved in this regard by adopting best practices.