Pre-Application Conference Held for ₹37,500 Crore Surface Coal/Lignite Gasification Scheme
Union Cabinet-approved gasification scheme moves to application stage with a Pre-Application Conference for surface coal and lignite projects
- The Ministry of Coal held a Pre-Application Conference to explain scheme rules, evaluation criteria, financial incentives, and the application process for surface coal and lignite gasification projects.
- The Union Cabinet approved the Scheme for Promotion of Surface Coal/Lignite Gasification Projects on 13 May 2026.
- The scheme is intended to promote cleaner and value-added utilisation of domestic coal and lignite.
What happened
The Ministry of Coal held a Pre-Application Conference for the Scheme for Promotion of Surface Coal/Lignite Gasification Projects. The conference was chaired by Sanoj Kumar Jha, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal, and was meant to explain the scheme rules before formal applications begin.
The scheme had already been approved by the Union Cabinet on 13 May 2026. The Ministry of Coal said the scheme is intended to promote cleaner and value-added use of domestic coal and lignite.
UPSC may frame this as a GS3 question on coal gasification, domestic energy security, import substitution, and the trade-off between cleaner utilisation of coal and India’s longer-term decarbonisation goals. Candidates should connect the scheme to industrial policy, downstream chemical production, and implementation challenges in project execution and financing.
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