BHUBANESWAR: As industry bodies of the State continue to flag acute coal shortage for captive power plants (CPPs), Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi on Monday informed Rajya Sabha that supply of coal to local industries and CPPs is done as per their agreement.
“Supply of coal to local industries including CPPs having fuel supply agreement (FSA) with Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) is being done as per their annual contracted quantity (ACQ) mentioned in their FSA,” Joshi said. Responding to queries from BJD MP Amar Patnaik, the Coal Minister said that coal is also being supplied to local industries (including CPPs) under different schemes.
In the current fiscal till December 2021, the total coal produced by MCL was 117.12 million tonnes (MT) while the total coal dispatched by MCL was 129.37 MT out of which, 59.35 MT coal was supplied within Odisha which is about 46 per cent of the total coal dispatched. Coal supply to non-power industries in Odisha has been 31.75 MT which is about 54 per cent of the total coal supplied to the State, he added.
In 2021-22 (till December, 2021), the materialisation percentage for local CPPs in Odisha is about 60 per cent against the ACQ mentioned in their FSA. Additionally, 12.797 MT of coal has been supplied to local CPPs till December 2021 under an exclusive e-auction scheme.
The Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ltd (UCCI) and the Odisha Assembly of Small and Medium Enterprises (OASME) have recently sought the intervention of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to the acute coal shortage and curtailment of coal supplies since August threatening the survival of the local industries which would lead to loss of employment.
Patnaik wanted to know if 65 per cent of MCL coal is being transferred to other states, and only 3 per cent is reserved for local industries, against the actual minimum requirement of 55 per cent for local CPPs based industries.