A government official said Friday that India aims to lease abandoned coal pits to private mining companies in an effort to boost production as power disruptions intensify a scorching heat wave.

Coal provides more than two-thirds of India’s energy needs, and the government has shied away from the cost of switching to renewables, even as unseasonably warm weather highlights the threat of climate change brought on by fossil fuel use.

Higher energy demand has been triggered by rising temperatures in recent weeks, leaving India with a 25 million tonne gap at a time when coal spot prices have risen since the start of the year.

At an industry event, coal ministry official Anil Kumar Jain remarked, “We’ve always maintained that coal is a much-maligned business.”

“We were once hailed as bad boys for promoting fossil fuel, but now we’re in the news (because) we don’t supply enough of it.”

On a revenue-sharing basis, the government proposes to lease over 100 idle state-owned coal mines to private miners.

Officials stated they’ll “reduce the red tape” to encourage mining behemoths Vedanta, Adani, and others to submit bids.

Each year, India need a billion tonnes of coal to meet domestic consumption.

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Domestic producers meet the majority of its demands, with a record 777 million tonnes of coal produced in the year ending in March.

To aid the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery, the government says it intends to raise domestic coal production to 1.2 billion tonnes in the next two years.

“We are quite pleased that the economy is improving and that power is in high demand.” “The malls are packed, and the restaurants are packed,” Jain remarked.

Despite a pledge to raise renewable energy production to 175 gigawatts by 2022 and 500 gigawatts by 2030, India’s coal minister, Pralhad Joshi, has predicted that coal demand will treble by 2040.

“The need for electricity has never been higher than it is today.” “The sun has never been as hot as it is today,” Joshi added.

The government’s latest move toward liberalising India’s mining industry and enabling private enterprises to profit from the world’s fifth-largest coal reserves was revealed on Friday.

“This will drive the country in the same direction that mineral-rich countries like Brazil, Canada, Australia, and South Africa have created wealth and jobs,” Vedanta mining head V. Shrikant said.