Power, steel and cement firms seeking coal supply arrangements with state-owned Coal India will have to wait for some more time as the meeting of the apex committee, which grants coal linkages to them has been delayed on account of shortage of the fuel with the producer.

"Coal India (CIL) has hardly any coal to distribute at present. The meeting of the Standing Linkage Committee (SLC), which was due in October-November has been delayed due to that. Schedule of the new meet is still to be worked out," a top coal ministry official told PTI.

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The official said the agenda for the meeting was prepared but because of paucity of coal it would now be reworked and the Coal Minister's consent would have to be taken for convening the meet.

In July, the government had cancelled coal linkages of 25 captive power plants with a combined capacity of 1,292 MW and requiring 5.844 million tonnes of coal per annum.

A senior CIL official said, "cancellation need not mean enough coal is available for issuing new linkages now. It has just eased some pressure on us. Balances of our companies are running in negative at present."

The Coal Ministry is working to snap ties with companies, which it perceives as "non-serious players".

Coal India, the country's largest coal miner, produced about 403 million tonnes of coal last fiscal and is the main source of the dry fuel for firms.

State-run NTPC which already has a fuel-supply pact with CIL to source coal for its plants, is seeking arrangements for its proposed 4,000-MW thermal power plant at Kudgi in Karnataka and has already written to the coal ministry in this regard.

The SLC for long term linkages is chaired by Additional or Special Secretary of the Coal Ministry. Its other members include representatives from the Ministry of Power, NTPC, CIL and Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.

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