The new policy - SHAKTI or Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyla (coal) Transparently in India - will ensure transparency in coal linkages and reduce power costs to consumers, power minister Piyush Goyal told reporters after the cabinet meeting. Another aim of the policy is to minimise the use of imported coal across various power plants. "It is a shame that the previous government never thought of becoming self-sufficient in terms of domestic coal," Goyal said. The route Coal linkages will be awarded to designated state-owned power distribution companies (discoms). Getting coal through the coal linkage auction will include the fuel supply agreement (FSA) route, which is cheaper than the coal available via the e-auction process.

Source: The Telegraph May 17, 2017 20:03 UTC