THE government has accepted NTPC’s request to surrender the Kudanali-Luburi coal block located at Odisha, which was allotted to it jointly with Jammu & Kashmir State Power Development Corporation Ltd (JKSPDC) in July 2013.
The mine was allotted to NTPC for developing the 1,320 MW Bilhaur thermal power plant at Uttar Pradesh, which is now being developed as a solar plant, the Power Purchase Agreement for which has been signed with the state of Uttar Pradesh. It is in this context, that NTPC wrote to Ministry of Coal to surrender the mine.
NTPC currently has 10 coal blocks: Pakri Barwadih, Chatti Bariatu (including Chatti Bariatu-South), Kerandari, Dulanga, Talaipalli, Bhalumuda, Banai, Mandakini-B, Banhardih and Badam Coal block with geological reserves of over 7.3 billion tonnes and production potential of about 113 million tonnes per annum.
The company has also made substantial progress in coal mining and approximately 7.31 MMT of coal was extracted from Pakri-Barwadih and Dulanga mines in the last financial year, it said.