Ranchi, Dec 1 (IANS): Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal Thursday said Coal India Limited (CIL) could not meet the requirements of the power companies.

"A large number of power plants are coming in the country. We cannot meet the coal demand of the power companies," Jaiswal said at a press conference here.

He said, "We are trying to improve coal production to meet maximum requirements".

"Some of the subsidiaries of CIL like HSCL, WBCL are moving with the given target and some of the subsidiaries like Central Coalfield Limited (CCL), Bharat Coking Coal Limited and others are lagging behind in the production target," he added.

The minister admitted that some of the power stations do not have adequate stocks of coal. He advised the power companies to import coal considering their rising demand.

To a query about cancellation of coal blocks of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Ltd and the Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB), Jaiswal said: "We have constituted a review committee which will look into the issue."

"The committee will look into only state-run and public sector undertakings' (PSU) power stations cancellation of the blocks," he added.

Jaiswal expressed unhappiness over the poor performance of the CCL in coal production. "Some CCL mines are not performing well."