On April 9, 2013, a government-appointed committee met for the first time to discuss various public private partnership (PPP) models in the coal mining sector.
Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal informed this in Lok Sabha recently.
In order to boost production of coal, the Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced in the Union Budget 2013-14 that the centre would introduce to PPP policy framework for the coal sector.
Following this, the government set up a nine-member committee under the Chairmanship of Coal Secretary SK Srivastava to devise a PPP policy framework.
The panel also has members from other ministries including Law, Labour and Finance among others. The finance minister had earlier said there was a need for devising a policy on public-private-partnership framework to reduce country’s growing dependence on imported coal.
Owing to severe shortage of coal, the several power stations in the country are operating below capacity.
Besides, the Planning Commission in a letter to the Coal Minister had earlier said: It should be possible to expand coal mining operations rapidly through a PPP model that can enable a fair and transparent framework based on competitive bidding.
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