India to rush teams to CIL mines for faster evacuation of coal

Sat, 22 Oct 2011

It is reported that the government will rush teams to Coal India collieries for faster evacuation of the dry fuel to overcome the crisis amid severe coal shortages disrupting power supply in different parts of the country.

A source in the Coal Ministry said "The Coal Ministry has been asked to rush teams to various collieries including Magad in Jharkhand and Kania, Basundra and Kulda in Orissa to ensure faster evacuation of the dry fuel and submit a report by November 10."

The decision was taken in a meeting last evening, chaired by Cabinet Secretary Mr Ajit Kumar Seth and attended by senior officials from various ministries including coal and power amid acute coal shortages impacting power generation.

The pithead stock lying idle at various CIL collieries is about 55 million tonnes which has not been lifted due to various problems including a shortage of railway rakes.

Sources said the teams will comprise officials from the coal, power and railway ministries and state-run Coal India.

Apart from this, sources said, it was also decided in the meeting to constitute separate panels comprising officials from various ministries including environment, power and railways besides the Planning Commission to sort out issues with state governments regarding land acquisition among other things for expansion projects.

Meanwhile, Mr Manmohan Singh Prime Minister is also likely to conduct a review of the supply situation next month. The Coal Ministry made it clear this week that it cannot supply domestic fuel to new projects which will have to depend on imported coal.

Power projects having a total capacity of 80,000 MW are under construction in the country, but coal linkages for upcoming plants having a combined capacity of 40,000 MW are yet to be obtained.

source Profit.ndtv