Coal news and updates

No provision for sale of coal from captive blocks: Minister

December 18: There is no provision for sale of coal or surplus coal from the blocks allotted for captive use, but an exception has been made based on the recommendation of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EgoM) in case of blocks allotted to Sasan Power Ltd, minister of state for coal Pratik Prakash Bapu Patil has said.

“As per the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973, there is no provision for sale of coal/surplus coal from the coal blocks allotted for captive use,” Patil said.

He, however, said the government has formulated a draft policy on usage of surplus coal, including middlings, rejects, etc, which has been circulated among various ministries/departments for obtaining their comments.

As per the guidelines and conditions of the allocation, usable middling/rejects generated during beneficiation shall be used captively by the allocatee(s) in their end-use plants specified in the allocation letter.

The modalities of disposal of surplus coal/middlings/rejects, if any, would be as per the prevailing policy/instruction of the government at the relevant point in time and could also include handing over such surplus coal/middlings/rejects to the local CIL subsidiary or to any person designated by it at a transfer price to be determined by the government, the minister said.

Regarding Sasan Power, Patil said, the government had permitted use of the surplus quantity of coal up to a maximum of 9 million tons per annum from the mines of Moher, Moher Amlori Extension and Chhatrasal allotted to Sasan Power Limited for setting up an ultra mega power project (UMPP), subject to certain conditions.

“However, the matter is presently sub-judice,” he said.