The draft coal policy with options for open pit and underground mining is being sent this week to the cabinet division for the government approval. "We've completed all necessary procedures. Now the draft will be sent to the cabinet division anytime this week for approval, Chief Adviser's Special Assistant for Power and Energy Ministry M Tamim told the news agency yesterday. The inter-ministerial meeting discussing the draft policy had given the green signal to go ahead, he added.

Pakistan could have avoided the adverse effects of the high cost of petroleum products including petrol, diesel and furnace oil, if it had avoided over reliance on petroleum based products for generating thermal power and had instead given encouragement to use indigenously produced coal in power generation, reports UPP correspondent. The conversion of the Pakistan Railways to diesel engines instead of coal engines resulted in growing use of diesel by the railways and the discarding of coal for running railway engines while in India nearly 50 percent of railway engines still run on coal.

Karimnagar July 10: The main Opposition parties have drawn up ambitious plans to highlight the grievances of the Singareni workers and espouse their cause with a view to consolidate their strength in the entire coal belt ahead of the next general elections.

NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Coal is learnt to have approved the allocation of 23 coking and non-coking coal blocks to leading steel, cement and power producers, including Essar, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), Grasim, Monnet and Ispat. While four coking coal blocks have been allocated in Madhya Pradesh, the remaining 19 non-coking blocks are in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, according to official sources here. This was decided at the meeting of the Screening Committee of the Coal Ministry held last week.

Posco of South Korea, the world's fourth-largest steelmaker, has moved to strengthen the security of its coal supplies by joining ArcelorMittal and China's Citic on the share register of Macarthur Coal. The three groups together now control almost half of the A$4.2bn (US$4bn) Australian group, making it virtually impossible for one of them to launch a successful takeover bid for Macarthur without the others' agreement.

Tata Power Company (TPC), the country's largest private power generation company, plans to invest Rs 25,000 crore to boost its capacity by six-fold to 12,800 mw by 2013. At present, the company is implementing new power projects to the tune of 5,500 mw.

Jaideep Deogharia | TNN Hazaribag: Danger looms on NH-33 off Ranchi: The road can cave in anytime as several tunnels have been dug beneath the highway near Hesagarha on Mandu Ghati in Hazaribag by illegal coal miners. With thousands of vehicles crossing these points, the road has developed cracks.