No tiff between CIL, NTPC on 3rd party sampling of coal: Goyal

Issue of coal quality last year had resulted in a standoff between the two companies

There is no dispute between Coal India and NTPC pertaining to third party sampling of coal and analysis at the loading end at present, Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said today.

"As per information available from NTPC and Coal India (CIL), currently there in no such dispute between them with regard to third party sampling and analysis at the loading end," the minister said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

The minister further said that with a view to address the issue of quality of fossil fuel, third party sampling and analysis facilities at loading ends have been introduced, adding that the the process is being further streamlined.

He was responding to a query on any tiff between the two PSUs in regard to conducting the tests of samples of coal by a third party.

The issue of third party sampling of coal had also come for discussion during the Coal India board meeting held this month.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during his budget speech last week had said that stringent mechanism for quality control of coal were being put in place.

A system for third party sampling of coal is already in place since October last year at loading points.

The Power Ministry had earlier alleged that stones and boulders were still being dispatched to the power plants.

"Supply of excessive stones and boulders especially from BCCL ( Bharat Coking Coal Ltd), a Coal India subsidiary, is a matter of concern. It results in high detention of railway rakes and damage to coal handling system of power plants," said a Power Ministry document.

The mechanism could not address the quality issue and so there is a "need to be done at unloading point," it said.

The issue of coal quality last year had resulted in a standoff between the country's largest power producer NTPC and the world's largest coal producer CIL.

After the government intervened, it was decided a third party mechanism would be introduced to check coal quality.