New Delhi, Jun 18 (IANS): Launching the auction of coal mines for commercial mining, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the coal sector has finally been pulled out of decades in lockdown and liberated.

Noting that India having the fourth largest coal reserves in the world was importing coal so far, he said that the move will make India self reliant in terms of coal and also create lakhs of job opportunities.

Modi said the opening up of commercial coal mining will help people of Eastern and Central India in terms of jobs and prosperity.

The decision to open up commercial coal mining for private players was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package last month.

"Today, we are not just launching the auction of commercial coal mining but are also pulling out the coal sector out of years in lockdown," Modi said during the video address during the launch programme.

He also said that the Centre aims to gasify 100 million tonne coal by 2030 and with an investment of Rs 200 billion.

The Prime Minister noted that without a strong mining and mineral sector self reliance of a country is not possible. He added that the opening up of commercial mining will create new resources and new markets for companies, more revenues for the states will get more revenue and more employment opportunities for people living near the coal mines.

Talking of the environmental concerns he said that it has been taken care of that India's commitment towards the environment is not compromised while reforming the coal sector and the objective of gasification of coal is in that direction.