MCL output down 25% on summer duty hour restriction

The restriction, which prohibit working between 10.30 am to 3.30 pm at coal mines, has come into force from mid-April and will continue up to mid-June

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), the second largest coal producing subsidiary of Coal India, has said summer duty hour restriction at mining sites imposed by local district administration has affected the coal output to the tune of 25 per cent.

The summer duty restrictions, which prohibit working between 10.30 am to 3.30 pm at coal mines, has come into force from mid-April and will continue up to mid-June.

"Certainly summer duty restrictions have affected the output as we operate for 24 hours. The production has suffered up to 25 per cent and come down to 2,60,000 tonne per day," said A K Tiwari, director, production, MCL.

MCL operates about 10 mines in Odisha and supplies coal to power stations in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu along with NTPC units and captive power plants of National Aluminium Company (Nalco).

Due to coal supply shortages, largest thermal power producer, NTPC recently said, it had to curb output at three units at Kaniha.

NTPC Kaniha, which has six units of 500 Mw each, said, it will continue to produce less power this summer as coal supply problem has not improved yet despite state government intervention and new coal supply commitments by MCL.

"Coal supply problem has affected the power production at Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu power plants too, but the problem will no longer be there after June," Tiwari said.

Of late, many consumers of MCL have been complaining about insufficient coal supplies and its repercussion on power generation. MCL, however, said that dispatches have improved from last year.

"We have been trying to meet 100 per cent requirement of power producers. It is true that recently there was some slowdown in supplies and dispatches due to duty restrictions, but we will ensure despath of more coal this summer compared to the previous year. The situation will improve soon," he added.

For 2013-14, MCL has set a target to produce 124 million tonne (mt) coal, up from 108 mt last year.

The coal miner recently came under fire after a safety committee of Union coal ministry suspended mining at Bharatpur mining site following a worker's death. The closure of the mine, which was linked to captive power plant of Nalco, forced the aluminium maker to cut metal output by 25 per cent.

MCL officials said, Nalco has been assured to get coal supplies from other sources, but still the daily supplies fell about 30 per cent short of agreed quantity of 15,000 tonne coal.