KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) - Stung by contractions in industrial production during October, led by a fall in coal output, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed the Coal Ministry not only to restore normalcy in production levels but to achieve quantum growth, starting in the current fiscal year.

“Today we have many power projects, whereas coal mines for some reason or other are being cancelled or linkages are not being provided, and our entire power sector is facing constraints,” Minister for Heavy Industries Praful Patel said after a meeting during which the Prime Minister issued the directive.

“The meeting discussed why coal production was not increasing. On the contrary, despite all efforts, production is falling,” he said, explaining the concern at the highest level of the government.

The government’s pressure on the Coal Ministry followed the release of the October industrial production data, which showed that output in eight core industrial sectors had fallen 0.6% during the month, led by coal, which nosedived 3.6%.

Coal India Limited (CIL), accounting for over 80% of domestic coal supplies, had already announced that achieving the 482-million-tonne target during 2013/14 would be unrealistic, which ruled out any chance of notching up growth in production.

In 2012/13 the miner had also missed the target of 464-million tonnes, achieving production of 452-million tonnes.

The trend in the current year did not indicate substantial growth in production by the end of March 2014, with the miner declaring that November production was at 39.20-million tonnes against the month’s target of 41.93-milion tonnes.

One of the reasons cited for the lower production trend by CIL was cyclone Phalin, which struck the eastern and south-eastern Indian provinces in October, disrupting mining operations and infrastructure in mines in the region.

Meanwhile, CIL announced that it would resume mining operations at the seven Talcher opencast coalfields, in the east Indian province of Odisha, on Wednesday, after they had been closed since Friday, halting the supply of 200 000 t/d to power plants.

The Talcher mines were forced to shut down following clashes between warring workers.

The Talcher mines, accounting for roughly 25% of CIL's total production and supplying seven thermal power plants in the region, were operated by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of CIL.