NLC's coal mine hits road block in Jharkhand

The 1980 MW coal based power project of a joint venture between Neyveli Lignited Corporation (NLC) and the Uttar Pradesh Vidhyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (UPRVUNL) is facing a challenge as works in a coal block allotted to NLC has been stopped due to "law and order" issues.

The 3x660 MW Super Critical Thermal Power Project is developed at a cost of Rs 14,858 crore was cleared by the Project Investment Board (PIB) and is awaiting GO sanction. The government has allotted two coal blocks - the Jigla-Barpalli block in Chhatisgarh and Pachwara-South Block in Jharkhand, to NLC for its coal based projects.

The company has placed orders with CMPDI (Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited) to for drilling the mine, however, the drilling was blocked by the protest from local people, said B Surender Mohan, chairman cum managing director, NLC.

Speaking to the reporters in the sidelines of a conference on Corporate Governance, organised by the National Foundation for Corporate Governance (NFCG), he said, "We have to dig to a certain level on the ground to know about the coal deposit in the land. But there was some law and order issue with the local people protesting." He said that the company has roped in the local administration, which has assured that the issue would be solved soon.

He also said that this would not affect the commencement of the project. The project would be ready for operation after 52 months from initiation and this particular project is expected to be operational in 2017, he added.

The Government of Uttar Pradesh has accorded clearance for land acquisition of 2500 acres of which almost half has already been acquired. The State government has also allocated 80 cu.secs of water for this project.

NLC, while announcing the signing of memorandum of understanding with the UPRVUNL last year, said that as per Gadgil’s Formula being followed by Central Electricity Authority, Uttar Pradesh will get 64.39% of Power produced from this plant, which will work out to 1,275 Megawatt.

It added that the state government has requested Government of India for allocation of enhanced level of 75% power generated from this power generation plant.

The project is being set up in comparatively backward region of the state which will trigger generation of employment and overall development of the area. Reliable and quality power would be available as the project is located close to power load centre, said in the NLC's release at the time.

More power for TN

Surinder Mohan also said that it could provide more electricity to the power starved state of Tamil Nadu, once the maintenance activities in its units complete. Speaking to reporters in the sidelines of a two-day national conference on Public Releations, Corporate Communications and the emerging trends in CSR, organised by NLC and Public Relations Society of India, he said that around 310 MW capacity is currently stopped production due to the periodical maintenance planned during the year and this will be operational by the end of December, this year.

The company has a capacity to supply around 1000-1100 MW of power to Tamil Nadu and due to the maintenance activities, it is now supplying around 900 MW. "The set target is to supply 800 MW to Tamil Nadu, but we are providing more than that to the State now. We expect we can increase the supply once the maintenance is over by the end of December."

The company has a total capacity to produce 2,490 MW and at present the production is around 2,200 MW. It may be noted that the State of Tamil Nadu has been suffering from power shortage for the past few years.