OPGC coal blocks issue on the boil

Even as the fate of 1320 Mw expansion plan of Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) hangs in balance with Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) putting the coal blocks allotted to the project under “no go” category, Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik has decided to seek the Prime Minister's intervention yet again on changing the status of the block.

Patnaik, who had knocked the doors of the Prime Minister earlier on the issue in March this year, will write to the PM again, requesting him to lift the 'no-go' status from the coal blocks and make them accessible for the project.

The decision to seek the PM's intervention on the vexed issue was taken at a high-level review meeting chaired by the state Chief Minister.

"It was decided at the meeting to follow up the issue of the coal blocks allocated to OPGC with the Centre. The CM will write to the PM on the matter. We urgently want the coal blocks to be recategorized as ‘go’ areas as this will help us to obtain forest clearance for the coal blocks”, said a highly placed official source.

The MoEF had proposed to categorize the Meenakshi group of coal blocks allocated to the Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) proposed at Sundergarh from 'no go' to 'go' under the condition that the Ministry of Power (MoP) would give up opening up of Manoharpur and Dulinga coal blocks allocated to OPGC and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) respectively.

The move had left the state government officials, especially the OPGC authorities sulking.

Patnaik had shot off a letter to the Prime Minister, stating that it would not be fair on the part of MoP to accept such a move at the cost of two other projects, particularly which is the only state owned project.

He had requested the Prime Minister to intervene in the matter and take a favourable stand in the upcoming meeting of the Group of Ministers to clear OPGC's Manoharpur and dip side of Manoharpur coal blocks into the 'go' category.

Interestingly, the Group of Ministers which had met recently failed to arrive at any conclusion on the issue.

Earlier, the MoEF had asked the Union ministry of power (MoP)to opt for any one of the three projects- NTPC, UMPP or OPGC as the ministry felt taking up all three projects together would not be environmentally sustainable.

The MoP, is understood to have decided against making any choice or preference for a particular project. The Group of Ministers, sources said, is likely to meet on July 2 and the matter is slated for discussion at the meet.

Earlier, the state energy minister Atanu Sabsyasachi Nayak in his letter to the Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde dated February 26 had stated that Orissa is relying on OPGC's project for meeting its future power security since the project is well placed to move into construction during the current financial year and any adverse decision in the case of coal blocks allocated to OPGC will be a serious blow to the state's future power supply scenario.