The Hindu Business Line : Coal companies hit by wagon shortage: Mamata

THE Union Minister of Coal & Mines, Ms Mamata Banerjee, here today said that shortage of wagons was posing problems for the state-owned coal companies to despatch coal to long distance bulk coal consuming industries.

For the current `uncomfortable' coal availability situation, particularly in the coastal states, Ms Banerjee, said that her Ministry would not be able to help unless the wagon supply situation improved.

Addressing a "meet-the press programme" here on Thursday at the Press Club, Ms Banerjee admitted that a section of core sector industries in the coastal belt, which to a large extent depended on imported coal, required domestic coal to compensate the shortfall of imported coal. Public sector coal companies could supply additional quantity to them, subject to the increased supply of wagons by the Railways.

Ms Banerjee said that although she was new in this Ministry, she would try her best to accelerate the process of reviving two sick coal companies, namely Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) and Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL). Two separate revival schemes were under preparation, at an estimated cost of about Rs 2,000 crore for ECL and about Rs 4,000 crore for BCCL.

She reiterated that there would be no retrenchment of workers in spite of modernisation of these two companies, which have already been referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) following erosion of these two companies' net worth.

As part of the revival plan, ECL would be allowed to set up a 500 MW thermal power plant in a suitable location under its command area in West Bengal, preferably in the districts of Bankura or Purulia. The proposed power project would be set up jointly with Neyveli Lignite Corporation NLC), at an estimated cost of about Rs 2,000 crore.

She said that NLC, which also belongs to her Ministry, would set up a few more green-field power projects in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan. Incidentally, NLC was already operating lignite-based power plant in Tamil Nadu.

On behalf of Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its subsidiaries, Ms Banerjee unfolded a series of social projects which include personal medical and accident insurance scheme for all employees right from senior executives level to workers, a specialty hospital in Kolkata, up-gradation of hospital facilities at ECL and BCCL and new residential housing projects at all subsidiaries of CIL.

The foundation stone of the specialty hospital, to be set up in this city, would be laid within a day or two, he said.

She said that domestic coal had inherent problem of high ash. She, therefore, asked all subsidiaries of CIL to set up coal washeries as to improve the availability of low ash content non-coking coal.

While assuring that metallurgical (coking) virgin coal blocks would be allotted to core sector industries, Ms Banerjee said that there were many isolated coal pockets in the command areas of CIL and its subsidiaries, had remained untapped.

A Committee had been set up under the chairmanship of the Coal Secretary, Mr P.K. Mishra, to identify those patches. A policy decision would subsequently be taken specifying the ways of how to develop those patches.

In reply to a question, he said that no new virgin coal blocks had recently been allotted to any State Government.