Coal ministry urges Orissa to form committees for mine projects

The Ministry of coal has urged the Orissa government to constitute specialized committees and build close collaboration with the district authorities to address various issues relating to coal mining projects.

Emerging out of a meeting with the state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik here yesterday, Alok Perti, the coal secretary, said, “Various issues regarding coal mines in the state were discussed. What we suggested is that the state government can work out certain committees to deal with issues surrounding coal mine projects. Our talks centred around law and order matters where the state government has a major role to play.”

The Chief Secretary has been very cooperative and has assured that a monitoring mechanism would be put in place in respect of coal mining projects.

Asked on allocation of coal blocks for the independent power producers that have proposed coal-based power plants in the state, “I cannot say off hand on the matter. These cases have to be examined company wise. For private companies, we have already decided to offer coal blocks through the competitive bidding route.”

On the demand made by Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) for allocation of 10 additional coal blocks, Perti said, the ministry will consider it when a notification for coal block allocation is issued.

Last year, the state government had demanded 10 coal blocks to be allocated in favour of OMC. The state mining PSU has already been allocated 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).

Meanwhile, Perti admitted that meeting coal requirement of the power sector was a challenge and the ministry was making efforts to step up coal output by ensuring speedy clearances.

In toto, the Ministry of Coal has allocated 32 coal blocks to 56 companies, both PSUs and private firms in Orissa. Three coal blocks have a total reserve of 15,212 million tonnes. Of the 56 firms which 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.