Sounding a strong warning, including severe shortage of coal for thermal power plants, the Coal Ministry has predicted serious implications for the southern States of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and many northern and western States if important railway lines connecting coal fields in Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh are not completed in the next three years.

In a note to the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Railways, the Coal Ministry has stated that it would not be possible for the State-run Coal India Limited (CIL) to achieve either the targeted production of 615 million tonnes of coal by 2016-17 or any incremental coal production during the 12th Five Year Plan if the railway tracks in these three coal producing States are not put in place in the next three years.