Coal India urges govt to clear its projects quickly

At a time when Coal India Ltd (CIL) is being pushed to sign fuel supply agreements (FSAs) with power companies, the state-run firm has said it needs at least 70 project proposals to be cleared in the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2012-17) to meet the demands of customers.

“During the 12th Plan, we have set a target of 615 million tonne (mt) in production. If it needs to be achieved and if we have to meet the demands of all these customers, at least 70 projects with a capacity of about 180 mt need to be cleared. Action has been initiated for this, but it needs to be fast-tracked. We are writing to the government to give clearances to these projects as soon as possible. Currently, our hands are tied,” said N Kumar, director, technical.

While in 2008 its production was 379.5 mt, it zoomed to 403.7 mt in 2009 and 431.3 mt in 2010. It saw flat growth of 431 mt in 2010 and 2011; 2012 saw 435.8 mt. “To achieve the target of 464.1 mt this fiscal (2012-13), the clearances of these projects are vital,” he said.

The CIL board is set to meet on the 16th of this month to clear FSAs to feed about 28,000 Mw of projects commissioned before December last year. The board had earlier turned down a government directive to commit at least 80 per cent supply to power companies; the government then issued a formal Presidential directive. Since it is tipped to sign FSAs with 50 firms soon after the meeting, environment and forestry clearances are vital, as there will be a penalty clause for not meeting the committed supply.

According to the coal ministry, 180 forestry proposals of different subsidiary companies of CIL, involving 28,484.5 hectares of forest land, are awaiting clearances at various levels. “Of 180 proposals, 131 are awaiting Stage-I approval and 49 are awaiting approvals for Stage-II. Further, 70 applications for environmental clearances are awaiting approvals at various levels,” Pratik Patil, minister of state for coal, recently told the Rajya Sabha.

CIL had to revise its production target more than once during the 11th Plan, finally to 520 mt, due to considerable delay in obtaining forestry clearances, tenancy land acquisition and associated resettlement and rehabilitation issues. And, due to delay in environmental clearances on many projects envisaged to contribute during the period.

The imposition of a moratorium on expansion projects areas having a Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index above 70, which included seven of its coalfields, had also affected its production during the period. The Maharatna major is currently operating 467 mines.