LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath government, which had decided not to buy imported coal for power generation two months back despite consistent pressure from the Centre, has finally agreed to the proposal.
The state government has now decided to buy 5.46 lakh metric tonnes of imported coal through Coal India at a cost of Rs 1098 crore.
As per the senior officials, the state government has decided to provide a subsidy of Rs 1098 crore to UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) in order to save the consumer from bearing the brunt of the hike in the cost of power production with imported coal.
The decision to this effect was taken by the state cabinet at a meeting held on Tuesday night. The decision may not impact the consumers immediately but in due course, it would burn a hole in the consumers pocket as the cost of the imported coal is Rs 20,000 per tonne as compared to Rs 3000 per tonne of domestic coal.
As per the sources, the decision has been taken to fulfil the coal requirement of UP Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (UPRVUNL) and Independent Power Producers (IPP) for August and September. The coal requirement of both UPRVUNL and IPP is 136.52 lakh metric tonne of which 5.46 lakh metric tonne of imported coal is just four per cent.
It may be mentioned that in order to overcome the power shortage, the Centre had directed the states to buy imported coal for their respective thermal power stations two months back. The sources claim that the Union power ministry had been exerting pressure on the state government to buy imported coal or else its quota of domestic coal would be reduced.
In May, the Yogi government had made it clear to the Centre that it would not buy the imported coal as it would put an extra burden on the consumers. However, the state government had to review its decision due to the looming paucity of coal in the coming months.
Actually, UP thermal power stations are supposed to get their allocated quota of 15-17 racks of domestic coal per day but during the crisis, Coal India cut it down to 11-12 racks per day.
According to Additional Chief Secretary, power, Awanish Awasthi, the decision to buy imported coal has been necessitated by the cut in the allocation of domestic coal for UP thermal power stations by Coal India. It could have resulted in acute power crisis in the state in days to come.
In fact, the cut in domestic coal by 3-4 racks per day by the centre would have impacted the power generation in the state during rainy season of August and September. Now the state government has conveyed its decision to buy imported coal to the centre which will restore the domestic coal quota of UP.
Meanwhile, the state government, though would bear the added burden by giving the subsidy of Rs 1098 crore to UPPCL for now, it has made it clear to the managing director of the corporation to present a proposal for tariff revision before the UP Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPREC) due to the rise in coal procurement expenditure.