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| Consumers sore over inferior coal quality |
| BS Reporter / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar Jul 15, 2009, 00:44 IST |
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Coal consumers drawing coal from the Basundhara coal block in the command area of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) are sore over the alleged inferior quality of coal supplied to them by MCL.
These consumers, especially the buyers of e-auction coal, have alleged that the coal supplied to them is admixed with stone, rock band and other foreign material. These consumers have been grappling with the problem of inferior quality coal for the past 4-5 months.
“We have been receiving abnormal complaints from our members every day regarding the inferior quality of coal supplied from the Basundhara coal block. There is no impact on the management of the Basundhara Garjan Bahal area under MCL even though we have lodged complaints from time to time”, said Subrata Banerjee, president, Federation of Coal Consumers, Dealers and Traders of India ((FCCDTI). FCCDTI is a Kolkata-based association of coal consumers like coal-based power plants, captive power plants and sponge iron plants.
The federation has also written to the Prime Minister of India on July 4 this year on the problems of the coal consumers.
According to the letter, the problem of inferior quality of coal has arisen after posting of a new general manager for the Basundhara Garjan Bahal area. The federation feels that the supply of coal was absolutely perfect before the joining of the new general manager.
The letter further says that the new general manager is supplying quality coal to some preferred consumers thereby leaving the other coal consumers high and dry.
TK Bhattacharjee, chief general manager (sales and marketing) of MCL said, “The federation is indulging in double standards. They had written to MCL only a few days back stating that the quality of coal has improved.”
However, Banerjee denied that the federation had written any such letter to MCL.
He pointed out that the e-auction coal consumers were the worst hit as the MCL management made no effort to improve quality of e-auction coal loaded in the rakes which were booked under abnormal premium under the e-auction scheme.
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