MP to import 4.5 lakh tonnes coal for power generation

Toeing the line of some other states, Madhya Pradesh, which is facing a severe power shortage, has finally decided to import 4.5 lakh metric tonnes of coal to meet its shortfall and does not affect its electricity generation, officials said.

The Madhya Pradesh government has been charging the UPA government of discrimination in the matter of coal supply and even the state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh had led a demonstration over the issue in New Delhi last year.

For nearly a year, the Madhya Pradesh Power Generating Company (MPPGCL) wanted to import coal to meet its shortfall but the State government was averse to it on the ground that it will prove a very expensive affair given that the state was not situated near a sea port, officials said.

"We have recently got the state government's nod to import coal, and are in the process of inviting bids for this purpose,"  MPPGCL Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) R B Agrawal said.

The CMD said that the MPPGCL was going for the import after the shortage of coal production in the country.

"The bidder who will give lowest cost of the fuel will bag the import contract," he said.

"We are not getting enough coal from Western Coalfields (WCL) and South Eastern Coalfields (SECL), so we are going to import this fuel to make up the shortfall," Agrawal said.

He said, "Madhya Pradesh needs 4.5 lakh metric tonnes of coal more to run our Sanjay Gandhi Thermal Power Station at Birsinghpur in Umaria district, till March 2010."

Agrawal said that the daily coal consumption of three thermal power generation stations of Madhya Pradesh was around 40,000 metric tonnes.

As of now, he said that the power generation hasn't been hit by coal shortage because of annual overhauling and maintenance of some thermal units.

He said that as Madhya Pradesh was not located near a sea port the cost of importing the coal will be expensive.

Many states in the country including Maharashtra and Gujarat have been importing coal for some time, former MPPGCL CMD D N Prasad said.