Supply of coal to the power plants is a continuous process. To address the issues of coal supplies to Power Sector. An Inter-Ministerial Sub Group comprising of representatives from Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Railways, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Coal India Limited (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) meet regularly to take various operational decisions to enhance supply of coal to Thermal Power Plants as well as for meeting any contingent situations relating to Power Sector including to alleviate critical coal stock position in power plants.
Besides, an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) has also been constituted comprising of Chairman, Railway Board; Secretary, Ministry of Coal; Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Secretary, Ministry of Power; to monitor augmentation of coal supply and power generation capacity. Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Chairperson, CEA are co-opted as Special Invitees as and when required by the IMC.
Finding new areas for mining coal and lignite through exploration is a continuous process. There is one sub-scheme i.e. Promotional (Regional) exploration continuing through Central Sector Scheme of Ministry of Coal for exploration of new areas of coal & lignite. In addition to this Geological Survey of India (GSI) also carries out investigation of minerals including coal.