Energy Minister Pranab Prakash Das has urged the Union Government to allocate the Chhendipada and Chhendipada II coal blocks to the Odisha Thermal Power Corporation ltd (OPTCl) for its) 3x800 MW power underway plants in Dhenkanal soon.
Das placed this demand at the two-day Power Ministers’ Conference that concluded at South Goa on Friday.
He informed the OPTCl has surrendered underground Tentuloi coal at Talcher, allocated to it earlier, as it was not technically and economically viable for open cast mining
The Minister too urged the Centre no to curtail fund allocation sought in the detailed project reports of Rs2417.27 crore in view of reducing of Centre- State allocation ratio from 90:10 to 60:40 in the new schemes like DDUGJY and IPDS that replaced RGGVY and R-APDRP schemes respectively. The diminishing rations has put financial burden on the State, pointed out Das.
“Curtailing fund allocation against the DPRs, Rs1289.22 crore under DDUGJY and 1128.05 crore under IPDS should not be acted upon against the DPR for better implementation of these schemes which is yet to be addressed,” argued Das.
Similarly, Das urged to share 60 per cent of funds to be collected from Odisha by way of increased “Clean Environment Cess” with the Stat for taking up environment protection and rehabilitation activities.
“The Centre has increased the Cess from Rs400 per Metric Tonne (MT) of coal from the existing Rs 200 per MT in the Union Budget for FY 2016-17. It will collect about Rs6,400 Crore from Odisha in order to promote the renewable energy development in other States without any commensurate benefit to Odisha. Odisha being a host State has to bear the cost involved in dealing with the negative externalities such as environmental degradation, land degradation, loss of flora and fauna, health hazards to people in the surrounding areas of mines. Hence, at least 60 of the proceeds of such funds should be shared with the State Government to deal with the negative externalities,” arugued Das
He also reiterated the demand for de-allocation of State’s share from all the upcoming NTPC stations, located outside the State except North Karanpur, in favour of other power deficit States of the Country.