While India's parliament is logjammed by the Opposition over"coalgate", the multi-billion dollar scam over allocation of coal blocks by the government, there is good news from the power ministry as an official said Saturday the country's coal supply will increase this fiscal.

The Power Ministry expects state-owned Coal India Limited and its subsidiaries to supply 347 million tons of coal this financial year, compared with 312 million tons in 2011-12, a rise of 10.1 percent.

For this, 70 million tons would have to be imported through state-owned Mineral and Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC) and state trading corporations. For captive coal mines allocated to power utilities, the ministry has projected production at 25 million tons.

These estimates are part of a framework document for 2012-13 approved by Power Minister Veerappa Moily and Power Secretary P Umashankar. The ministry's estimates are crucial, especially as a loss of about 4.2 billion units of power was recorded in the April- June period, owing to the lack of adequate coal.

The ministry also indicated it would try its best to achieve production of 468.74 metric tons. On condition of anonymity, a ministry official said"The ministry would pursue the availability of 347 metric tons of coal this year from Coal India and its subsidiaries with the Coal Ministry. Besides, all efforts would be made to ensure an early clearance of coal blocks. Long-term arrangements for the coal-based capacity addition programme in power generation would be finalised."

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), India's largest power generation company, has proposed capacity addition of 4,160 metric tons this financial year. official said.

Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (MahaGenco), which has approached the Competition Commission of India challenging Coal India's monopoly, argued Coal India and its subsidiaries should ensure supply of best-quality coal."We will continue to pursue our demand in this regard with the Coal Ministry, as well as Coal India and its subsidiaries. This is to avoid a loss of generation due to poor-quality coal," said an official from MahaGenco.