Coal news and updates

Vidarbha body writes to WCL over “priority” allocation

May 11: The Vidarbha Industry Association (VIA), a body devoted to the promotion of industry in the region, has made a presentation to Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), in relation to the Coal India subsidiary having given “priority” to Birla Cellulosic, a unit of Grasim Industries, for the month of April, according to a circular, which is available with ICMW.

According to a WCL circular, “Birla Cellulosic, which is paying 140% of the notified basic price towards purchase of coal, shall have priority in allocation of coal from the sources mapped for it over the other consumers (except small consumers).”

However, according to VIA, there has been no response so far from WCL.

The association is irked since it feels that a particular company was disadvantaged if it wanted coal from Umrer mine, since its end-use plant was located close to it, but was not allowed since 100% of the output from here was being allotted to a particular company on a priority basis.

“If a company’s plant is located say 40 km from Umrer, it would have saved on logistics costs if it had been allocated from this block. What is the use of setting up a plant near the pithead of a particular mine?” feels a VIA source, adding that the company was willing to pay 140% of the notified basic price towards purchase of coal to get a linkage but nowhere in the linkage agreement was it mentioned that it would get priority from a particular mine.