State Energy Minister Arun Kumar Sahu on Tuesday met Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal in New Delhi and sought a larger chunk of coal reserves for the State-run undertakings like the Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC).
After the meeting, Sahu said Jaiswal assured him to consider the State Government’s proposal to allocate adequate coal reserves for the State PSUs. The Union Minister said the Centre would examine the proposal positively, Sahu added.
It may be noted that the State Government has been accusing the Centre of adopting a discriminatory approach towards the State by allocating barely 5 per cent of coal available in the State.
"Interestingly, while the State of Odisha has a total estimated coal reserve of 71,447 million tones, so far the State PSUs put together have only 1.26 per cent of coal reserves allocated for their projects whereas 10.77 per cent of the reserves have been allocated to private companies," Sahu had said in a letter to Jaiswal.
Stating that supporting other States’ and Central entities at the cost of Odisha’s own companies would be difficult, Sahu said that apart from private companies, 6.38 per cent of the reserves have been allotted to other States’ PSUs while 32.15 per cent has been given to the Coal India subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfield ltd (MCl).
Arguing that Odisha is facing an unprecedented rise in the demand for power due to industrial and social development, Sahu sought a reexamination of the recent blocks allocation by Centre in which only one mine was allocated to an Odisha PSU. He termed it "total injustice to the State, “especially the host State".
The State sought allocation of the Chandrabila coal block to the OPGC, which is in the process of setting up a 4X660 MW power plant.Earlier this month, the Centre allotted 14 coal blocks with geological reserves of 8,311 MT to Central and State PSUs including four to the NTPC.
While coal blocks have been allocated to all eligible PSUs recommended by the Union Ministry of Power, CEA and CMPDI, only the OPGC has been excluded, the State Government pointed out.