At present, Coal Bed Methane (CBM) is not produced from any working/ operational coal mines in the country. Government of India had formulated a policy in 1997 to extract Coal Bed Methane (CBM) from coal-bearing areas prior to the mining of coal and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed between the Ministry of Coal and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, to act in a cooperative manner for the development of CBM.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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AL/AKN/RKP