Coal committee to submit report in 15 days

Close on the heels of the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) clearing six coal blocks linked to the power projects of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) and the Ultra Mega Power Plant (UMPP), the Orissa government has now geared itself to meet the coal requirement of the proposed Independent Power Plants (IPPs) in the state.

A two-member committee, appointed by the state government to spell out a long-term vision for the coal sector, will submit its report within 15 days. The report, inter alia, would offer a roadmap for expediting development of coal blocks allocated to the state PSUs as well as private firms besides envisioning the state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) as the prospective coal supplier to IPPs.

"The Government of India (GoI) has allocated many coal blocks in the state. We have formed a committee of coal experts which will submit its report within 15 days. The experts would suggest the policy to be adopted by the state government on environment measures as well as displacement and rehabilitation measures”, the state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik told reporters after a review meeting on coal allocation.

"The committee has recommended that the status of coal blocks allocated to the state PSUs and private firms need to be reviewed jointly by the GoI and the state government and the coal blocks of non-serious players may be de-allocated. Besides, the committee has also envisioned OMC to be the coal supplier to IPPs and has pitched for allocation of additional coal blocks in the future to the corporation”, said a highly placed official source.

Last year, the state government had demanded 10 coal blocks to be allocated in favour of OMC, which has already been given the Utkal-D coal block independently and two coal blocks namely Nuagoan-Telisahi and Mandakini-B jointly with other state corporations.

Utkal-D in Angul district has a reserve of 145.648 million tonnes, while the Nuagoan-Telisahi mines in Angul district, allotted jointly to OMC and Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation, has a reserve of 733 million tonnes. The Mandakini-B coal block which promises a reserve of 1200 million tonnes has been allotted jointly to OMC, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB), Assam Mineral Development Corporation (AMDC) and Meghalaya Mineral Development corporation (MMDC).

In toto, the Ministry of Coal has allocated 32 coal blocks to 56 companies, both PSUs and private firms in Orissa. Thee coal blocks have a total reserve of 15,212 million tonnes. Of the 56 firms who have been allocated the coal blocks, there are 16 PSUs including public sector companies from Orissa and other states. However, of the 32 coal blocks, only one block (Talabira-I) coal block has gone into production.

All the 32 coal blocks are spread over an area of 325 sq km and the implementation of these projects would involve displacement of around two lakh people.

The committee has suggested that the entire coal mining belt may be divided into three zones- one for Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), second for the private firms who have been allocated captive coal blocks and the third for state PSUs like OMC. The Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco) will take up the task of developing a comprehensive master plan for each coalfield and the region in general, including all related issues like land requirement, logistics, rehabilitation & resettlement, environment and water requirement.