New Delhi, Feb 20 (IANS): The government said on Friday that 15 coal washeries will be made operational by September next year, thus doubling the current number which has a total capacity of 38 million tonnes per annum.

This was conveyed to the parliamentary consultative committee attached to the coal ministry that met at Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati to review the status of implementation of coal washeries and measures being taken for improvement of quality of coal by state miner Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its subsidiaries, the coal ministry said in a statement here.

"Members were informed that CIL (Coal India Ltd) has existing 15 washeries with capacity of 38 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) and as part of future plan, CIL plans to build 15 new washeries for augmenting the demand of washed coal for energy needs and compliance of environmental regulations," it said.

The meeting, chaired by Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal, also included Coal Secretary Anil Swarup, chairmen and directors of CIL and NLC, as well as senior ministry officials.

Committee members were also informed that from January 1, 2016, it has been made mandatory to supply 100 percent crushed coal of (-) 100 mm size to power sector consumers having fuel supply agreements (FSA), excluding pit head power plants of NCL and ECL, the statement added.

During 2015-16, a total of 63.8 million tonnes of crushing capacity has been added with installation of mobile crushers and feeder breakers, the ministry said.