Coal India (CIl) will continue to provide tapering linkages to those power plants whose coal blocks were cancelled by the Supreme Court recently. "With the approval of the competent authority, it has been decided that the projects which had tapering linkage but whose coal blocks have been deallocated by the Supreme Court judgement, may be allowed to maintain tapering linkage ... till March 31, 2015, subject to review after that date," Coal Ministry said in a recent letter to CIl.
Tapering linkage is the short—term linkage provided to those coal consumers who have been allocated captive coal blocks for meeting the fuel requirements but the mines could not be developed on time. The dispensation will apply to those power plants which are part of 78,000 MW list approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and are running, and they have long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).