CIL against use of Jamuria coal bed for Videocon plant

The Videocon Group’s move to set up a 3-million-tonne-per-annum steel plant and a 1,200-Mw power project over a patch of coal-bearing area at Jamuria, near Asansol (West Bengal), has been opposed by state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL), the world’s single-largest coal miner.

“CIL is opposed to any project coming up on a coal-bearing area. The site identified for Videocon Group’s steel plant and power project has about 600 million tonnes of coal reserves under the command area of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), a subsidiary of CIL. Videocon cannot use the coal reserves as it has no expertise in coal mining and its project can be realigned or relocated,” a highly placed CIL official told Business Standard. The West Bengal government had assured them that no industrial project would be developed on coal-bearing areas, the official added.

“Videocon has not approached us on the matter and we are not in talks with them. CIL cannot agree to any proposal wherein an industrial project comes up on a coal-bearing area,” the official pointed out.

Earlier, the first airport city project in the country to be developed on more than 2,000 acres in the Asansol-Durgapur region by a special purpose vehicle called Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd had also hit a similar roadblock, as the identified site contained coal reserves. The Rs 10,000-crore project had to be subsequently realigned to leave out the coal-bearing areas.

Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot had said last week that using coal found at the project site was the best solution for the company, as this would obviate the need for allocation of a coal block for its steel plant and power project.