The government today said there is no proposal to increase coal
prices at present even as Coal India has adopted a new system for pricing
and excise duty on dispatches of fossil fuel has been raised.
“As of now the rise in the prices of coal is not under
consideration,” Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said when asked
whether the government is considering hiking prices in the wake of new system.
Coal India (CIL), however, said that the burden on account of increase in duty
will be passed on to the consumers, adding that it would be negligible.
“The increase will be passed on to the consumers. It will be
negligible,” CIL Chairman and Managing Director N C Jha said.
The Coal Ministry had hiked stowing duty levied for rehabilitation,
stowing and infrastructure development of abandoned mines from Rs 10 a tonne
to Rs 20 a tonne. The step follows a Cabinet decision last month to raise the
cap on Stowing Excise Duty (SED) to Rs 50 a tonne from Rs 10 a tonne.
A partial revision in prices of coal was last undertaken by
CIL in February 2011. The PSU on an average raised the price of fossil fuel by
about 15 per cent.
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