Odisha to get Rs 45k cr from coal auctions

Coal ministry to consider state's demand for Chhendipada coal blocks

Coal rich Odisha is poised to get Rs 45,000 crore from coal auctions over the next 25-30 years.

"In the next 25-30 years, Odisha would get Rs 45,000 crore from coal auctions. The state will get the revenue once mining takes off from the blocks," said coal secretary Anil Swaroop.

He said, the coal ministry has notified 10 more coal blocks for auctions in the third tranche including the Jamkhani coal block in Odisha. All these blocks are for unregulated sectors.

Swaroop dismissed apprehensions that the ministry had stopped allocating coal blocks through the nomination route for state controlled companies.

"Its not true that we have rejected the state government's plea for allocation of coal blocks. There is a defined procedure by which we allocate coal blocks for PSUs. We are readying the next set of coal blocks that would be allocated to the PSUs. The ministry would take a call on this issue in the next 15-20 days," he said in reply to a query on whether the coal ministry had rejected Odisha's demand for allocating Chhendipada and Chhendipada II coal blocks in favour of Odisha Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (OTPCL).

The state was ready to surrender the Tentuloi coal block allocated earlier to OTPCL. Being an underground coal reserve, Tentuloi block is difficult to mine. Most of the reserve is below 900 metre depth. Even with the use of best technologies, only two million tonne of coal can be extracted from this mine while OTPCL's requirement for the power project is 16 million tonne per annum (mtpa).

So far, nine coal blocks from the state have been put to auction. Of this, only two coal blocks (Manoharpur and dip side of Manoharpur) have been allocated to a state PSU- Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC). This is in contrast to the West Bengal government owned generation utility that has won seven coal blocks under the PSU dispensation route.

The state government justified the allocation demand for OTPCL stating that it was a 100 per cent government owned company, being a 50:50 joint venture between Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC).

Earlier, the state government had urged the Coal ministry to award the Naini block to OTPCL. But the ministry allocated the block to Singareni Collieries Ltd.

OTPCL is setting up a 2400 Mw coal-fired power plant at an estimated cost of Rs 17,000 crore. The power station has been proposed at Kamakhyanagar in Dhenkanal district. The project needs 1,767.90 acres of land, including 1,074.95 acres of private land, 684.25 acres government land and 8.7 acres forest land. The power purchase agreement (PPA) for sale of entire power to be generated by the OTPCL power station has been executed with Gridco, the state owned power trading firm.