Centre agrees to Guj plea on reserving lignite block for GMDC

The Centre has agreed to Gujarat government's request to reserve lignite, to be mined at Valia block in Bharuch, for Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC), state Energy Minister Saurabh Patel said today.
With this, the GMDC will get over 100 million tonnes lignite mined on 3,015 hectares of land, worth around Rs 10,000 crore, he said.
"The Central government has approved Gujarat's request to reserve lignite to be produced at KFG lignite block spread over 3,015-hectare area at Valia in Bharuch for GMDC Limited. This will help industries in Gujarat to get cheap lignite at regular interval," he said.
"The development of the new block at Valia by GMDC will also generate employment in the region," the minister said.

In Gujarat, lignite is found in Kutch, Bharuch, Surat and Bhavnagar districts, which contain an estimated 2,900 million tonne lignite.
Other than power production, the mineral is also used in textiles, chemicals, and ceramics industries and as fuel in brick kilns.

GMDC produces around 10-11 million tonne lignite annually from its mines located at Panandhro Matano Madh in Kutch, Rajpardi in Bharuch, Tarkeshwar in Surat and Surka in Bhavnagar.
The state-owned 500-MW Gujarat Industries Power Corporation, located in Bharuch, produces power using lignite.
GMDC also runs lignite-based power stations Akrimota Lignite Power Plant and Kutch Lignite Thermal Power Station, both located in Kutch.

Demand for lignite in the state is likely to rise to 30-35 million tonne in near future.