‘No dispute between coal and power ministries over mines’
26 July 2016 11:13 PM GMT
The government on Monday said coal and power ministries are not at loggerheads over seven coal blocks identified for allotment to power plants through tariff-based bidding.
“There is no dispute between Ministries of Coal and Power with regard to allocation of 7 coal mines identified for allotment to power projects to be awarded on tariff-based bidding,” Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a reply to the Rajya Sabha.
These seven explored coal blocks in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are part of 204 coal mines cancelled by the Supreme Court and are included in Schedule I of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, the minister said. The power ministry, he said, has been requested to intimate suitability of these seven coal mines for power projects being planned to be awarded on tariff-based bidding. Out of these seven, one coal mine Tubed, which is located in Jharkhand, has been alloted to the Damodar Valley Corporation on the recommendation of the power ministry, the minister said.
“Environment and forest clearances are to be obtained by the allocatee company themselves,” he said, adding that there is no proposal at present to withdraw these coal mines. The authority for allotment of coal blocks rests with the coal ministry. Meanwhile, government said a revenue of around Rs 2,237 crore has already been generated till May-end from the allocation of 74 coal mines.
“The revenue already generated till May 31, 2016 from the allocation of 74 coal mines under the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 is Rs 2,237 crore (excluding royalty, cess and taxes) which shall be devolving entirely to the coal bearing state concerned,” Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a reply to Rajya Sabha. The revenue which would accrue to the coal bearing states from the allocation of mines comprises of upfront payment as prescribed in allotment document, auction/allotment process and royalty on per tonne of coal production, the minister added.
Under the provisions of Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 and its rules, he said, the government has so far allocated 75 coal mines for specified end uses.
“The revenue which shall accrue to the coal bearing states concerned during the life of mine/lease period from the allocation of these 75 coal mines...2015 is estimated at more than Rs 3.53 lakh crore,” the minister said. The estimated revenue from the e-auction of 31 coal mines is Rs 1,96,689 crore, he added.
0.9% Power deficit in April-June: Minister
Overall power deficit during the April-June quarter this fiscal was 0.9 per cent while the peak deficit was 2 per cent, Parliament was informed on Monday. “As per information given by states/UTs to the Central Electricity Authority, the gap between demand and supply of electricity has been brought down to the lowest ever 2.1 per cent during 2015-16 which has further reduced to 0.9 per cent during 2016-17 (April June, 2016),” Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. According to a statement, against the overall demand of 295.34 billion units in April-June, 292.82 billion units were supplied, a deficit of 0.9 per cent. Similarly, 149.97 billion units were supplied against the peak demand of 152.97 billion units, recording a deficit of 2 per cent in the period under review. The minister said, “As against capacity addition target of 1,18,537 mw (including 88,537 mw conventional and 30,000 mw renewable) during the 12th Plan, i.e. by 2016-17, about 86,565 mw from conventional sources and about 19,500 mw from renewable sources have been achieved till June 30, 2016.” “Construction (target) of 1,07,440 ckm transmission lines and setting up of 2,82,740 mega volt amp (MVA) transformation capacity during the 12th Plan. As against this, 89,813 ckm of transmission lines and 2,66,033 MVA of transformation capacity have been achieved till June 30, 2016.” As per the statement, the highest overall power deficit was recorded at 18.2 per cent in Jammu & Kashmir, where 3.6 billion units of electricity was supplied in April-June as against the demand of 4.4 billion units. Jammu & Kashmir has also recorded the highest peak power deficit of 15.2 per cent in April-June quarter as 2.1 billion units were supplied against the demand of 2.4 billion units. It is the only state which has recorded overall and peak power deficit percentage in double digits.
Next Story
