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The Minister of State for Coal and Mines Dr. Dasari Narayana Rao has asserted that coal supplies to power sector by the public sector coal companies have exceeded the targets given by the Planning Commission. Meeting the press here today, the Minister said that during the year 2004-05, power sector was supplied 249 million tonnes of coal which is 9 million tonnes more than the annual action plan target and 15 million tonnes more than the supplies in the previous year. He further said that power sector was supplied 41 million tonnes of coal more than the targets since the year 2000-01. It is incorrect that power generation has suffered due to short supply of coal by the Coal India Limited (CIL).
Dr. Rao said that non-materialization of planned inputs by thermal power stations is placing additional burden on CIL and marginal shortages are being magnified. He informed that 77% of coal production by public sector companies is going to power sector and 66% of power generation in the country is coal based. Power generation has been steadily increasing and the Plant Load Factor has gone up from 69% in 2000-01 to 75.20% in 2004-05. The Minister has urged the power utilities to immediately clear the dues of Rs. 3,326 crore of CIL. Minister said power utilities like NTPC and State Electricity Boards are being allotted captive coal blocks to meet their growing needs. NTPC has recently been allotted Pakri Barwadi coal block with huge reserves of 1600 million tonnes. Dr. Rao said that 16 identified thermal power stations have been asked to import 10 million tonnes of coal during the current financial year. As per the advice of the Ministry of Power, new coal consumption norms are being applied to thermal power stations and captive power plants.
The Minister said that the growing demand from power sector has adversely affected the interest of the non-core sector, which has about 2800 small industrial units. For want of access to coal produced by the coal companies the non-core sector is forced to source coal from premium market which is encouraging black marketing and illegal mining. To protect the interest of non-core sector by making additional coal available to them the Prime Minister has approved e-auction of 10 million tonnes of coal for the benefit of non-core consumers during the year 2005-06. In addition, National Cooperative Consumers Federation will supply 2 million tonnes of coal per year to small industrial units. The Minister informed that an additional 2 million tonnes of coal will be made available to the State Government agencies to meet the needs of the smaller units who are facing crisis situation. Dr. Rao assured that supplies to non-core sector will be increased without affecting the interests of power sector through increased production. He said e-auction of coal will help better realization of price by the coal companies and check black marketing.
Stating that Planning Commission has projected demand – supply gap of 55 million tonnes in 2006-07 and 95 million tonnes in 2011-12 the Minister said several initiatives are being taken to bridge the demand – supply gap. He informed that private sector participation in coal sector through captive coal mining is being encouraged in a big way. The Government is allocating 35 captive coal blocks with reserves of 6162 million tonnes of coal by the end of this month as against the 49 blocks allocated with reserves of 5099 million tonnes since the introduction of captive mining in 1993. He said these captive blocks have the potential of annual production of 199 million tonnes. The Government has also taken measures to ensure early production of coal from captive coal blocks. He informed that 3 blocks have been de-allocated for not progressing adequately and notices are served to those who are allocated coal blocks more than 5 years back.
Dr. Rao said the Government has already cleared three major new coal projects with annual production capacity of 23.50 million tonnes per year with a capital investment of Rs. 735 crore. Two more projects with production capacity of 23 million tonnes per year with a capital investment of Rs. 2151 crore are under the consideration of CCEA. The Government also cleared lignite based projects with a capital investment of Rs. 3399 crore.
The Minister said that CIL has been exceeding production targets over the years. It has produced 323.64 million tonnes of coal in 2004-05 as against the target of 314 million tonnes which is 17 million tonnes more than the production in 2003-04. Dr. Rao stressed on better planning and monitoring, increase in productivity, better utilization of machinery and commissioning of new projects. CIL has reported a provisional profit of Rs. 6825.54 crore against the profit of Rs. 4889.16 crore in the previous year. The target for the current financial year has been fixed at 363 million tonnes.
Dr. Rao said several vacant posts of CMDs and Board level Directors have been filled up by the Government in the last few months. To end ad-hocism in the long term management of coal industries the Prime Minister has appointed an Expert Committee which will look into demand – supply management in short, medium and long term, increasing the productivity of men and machinery, mechanization and restructuring of CIL to make it globally competitive. The public sector coal companies are geared up to meet the growing demand for coal from the fast growing national economy, he said.
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