West Bengal and coal

Introduction
With a population of over 91 million people, West Bengal would be the thirteenth most populous in the world if it were an independent country. Coal has been mined since the late 18th century in the Raniganj Coalfield, India's second largest with estimated reserves of 29.72 billion tonnes. In 1973 numerous privately operated mines were consolidated into Eastern Coalfields Limited, a subsidiary of Coal India. As shown in the table and map below, at least 20 new coal plants have been proposed for the state.

Proposed coal plants (table)
Columns may be sorted by clicking on the headers.''

Map: Transportation infrastructure
Coal is exported from West Bengal through Haldia Port, shown on the map below.

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External resources

 * "Move Beyond Coal, Now! Voices from the front lines of the global struggle," Sierra Club, 2011