In view of the growing demand for coal by various major investors in the power and steel sectors, the State Government has decided to put forth its earlier demand before the Centre for reallocation of five de-allocated coal blocks to the State public sector undertakings (PSUs).
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has asked the officials of Department of Steel & Mines to reiterate the State’s demand with the Union Ministry of Coal (MoC) in a befitting manner.
The MoC has de-allocated five coal blocks, Mandakini-B, Baitarani-West, Naini, Utkal-D and New Patrapada coalfield area.
While the administrative approval was accorded to acquire land for the Utkal-D and New Patrapada coal blocks, it was decided not to allow any approval for the other three blocks as those have been de-allocated.
The Utkal-D coal block was allocated to the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), which roped in private-sector Sainik Mining for its development. But later, the joint venture was cancelled due to various snags. The land acquisition process is on by the Idco for an area of 654 acres, which would continue, said sources.
Similarly, the New Patrapada coal block was allocated to eight private players, which now stands de-allocated while the land acquisition process is on for 2,749 acres by the Idco. The Idco would continue the process and keep the land with itself, said a senior official.
However, the State Government would not sit idle till these coal blocks are allocated in favour of its PSUs, said an official source.
Earlier, the High level Committee headed by Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra had decided to continue land the acquisition process in these two de-allocated coal blocks.
The requirement of coal is assessed at about 250 MTPA for which a coal reserve of about 10,000 MTPA would be required. Taking this into cognizance, the State Government has time and again asked the MoC not to allocate the coal blocks to any other party except the OMC till the requirements of coal for the State-based projects are met.
During the last one year, a total 47 coal blocks have been de-allocated in the country out of a total 218 allocated coal blocks. Considering various representations from coal block allottees, de-allocation letters in respect of five coal blocks have been withdrawn and two blocks have been reallocated in the country.
Recently, the MoC invited applications from State and Central PSUs for allocation of 14 coal blocks, of which five belong to Odisha. The MoC has allocated Tentuloi in favour of the Odisha Thermal Power Corporation limited while the Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) and the OMC have been denied coal blocks.
“While the State has a total estimated coal reserve of 71,447 MT, so far the State PSUs put together have only 1.26 per cent of the coal reserves allocated for its projects whereas 10.77 per cent of the reserves have been allocated to private companies,” said a senior official.
During a recent meeting between State Energy Minister Arun Sahu and Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, the latter assured that the MoC would try to allocate coal blocks to the OPGC on a priority basis.