New Delhi, May 23 (PTI) The government has accelerated exploration and drilling of coal in the northeastern states of the country, according to a coal ministry official.

The ministry of coal is focussing on clean coal technologies for producing clean coal as it would stay on as a primary input for producing thermal power in near future, Anindya Sinha, project adviser in the Ministry of Coal, said.

"Government has accelerated to explore and drill coal in northern eastern part of the country, particularly in states of Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland, given their prospective coal potentials," Sinha was quoted as saying in a release by PHD Chamber.

The government has also issued directives to all coal companies to set up washeries at their coal mining plants to enable them generate 'Swachh Coal' or clean coal for energy generation as well as meet requirements of steel plants, he said in the release.

"A phased manner time table has been given to national companies to produce clean coal to address the issue of environment and ecology," he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)