New Delhi, Nov 28 (PTI) The government on Tuesday asked coal block owners to take necessary steps to operationalise mines that are at an advanced stage of commissioning.

In FY24, India might produce 145 Million Tonnes (MT) of coal from commercial and captive blocks, that would help bring down the country's import of fossil fuel.

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M Nagaraju, Additional Secretary and Nominated Authority, Ministry of Coal, chaired a review meeting of producing and expected to produce captive and commercial coal mines during 2023-24.

During the meeting, Nagaraju asked the companies allotted coal blocks to take necessary steps to achieve production target of the current fiscal.

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"The total coal production from captive/commercial coal mines during April 1, 2023 to November 20, 2023 was around 80 MT, indicating a year-on-year growth of 23 per cent from the same period of FY 2022-23," the coal ministry said in a statement.

(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)