Coal news and updates

Bridge linkage for govt cos given Schedule III mines

The Ministry of Coal (MoC) has decided to give “bridge linkage” of coal to the central and state sector public undertakings which have been allotted Schedule-III mines for a period of up to three years, an official communique said.

“Bridge linkage“ will act like a short-term linkage to bridge the gap between the requirement of coal of a specified end-use plant (EUP) of Central and state PSUs and the start of production from the linked allotted coal mine, the communique said.

Such linkage may be granted for a fixed period of three years from the date of allotment of coal mine/block and further extension thereafter will be entertained under “normal circumstances”.

The communique made it clear that only Schedule-III coal mines and coal blocks allotted under the MMDR Act will be considered for this purpose as mines included in Schedule-II are   “producing” or “ready to produce” and no linkage shall be granted to specified EUPs from such mines under any circumstances.

It also made clear that no “bridge linkage” would be provided to private sector EUPs, which have won coal mines after bidding under the auction route since it would amount to change in bid conditions to provide tapering linkages in the bidding documents of the blocks auctioned off.

It, however, said as there are constraints in the availability of coal and in view of the negative coal balance, Coal India Ltd and Singareni Collieries Company Ltd shall endeavour to supply 75% of the “agreed requirement” of coal which is calculated at 90% of the normative requirement of the plant operating at a PLF of 85%.

The communique also made it clear that there shall be no minimum assured quantity and there will be no fuel supply agreement (FSA) and coal will be supplied on “best effort basis” after meeting existing contractual obligations of coal companies.