NEW DELHI | March 10, 2016: The government today said the movement rationalisation of 26 million tonnes of coal has resulted in potential annual savings of Rs 1,371 crore of transportation cost.

"Overall, movement rationalisation of 25.9 million tonnes (MT) coal has taken place with potential annual savings of Rs 1,371 crore of transportation cost," Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The new inter-ministerial task force (IMTF) formed in 2014 in its report had recommended rationalisation of linkage sources for 19 power utilities (PUs) in stage-1 by swapping linkage coal between different coal companies to optimise distances and maximising dispatches of coal.

The minister further said that the task force recommended rationalisation of six swap sets of power utilities in stage two.

"In stage-III, a stepwise approach to achieve further rationalisation has been recommended by IMTF by identification of clusters which would result in net reduction of the overall costs, and can be effected with consent of the Gencos/states," it said.

As per the status of implementation of recommendations of IMTF, Coal India has executed revised fuel supply agreement with 17 thermal power plants in stage one rationalisations which has resulted in movement rationalisation of 24.6 million tonnes of coal and he annual savings of approximately Rs 913 crore of recurring transportation cost.

"In Stage II, one set of swaps has been implemented resulting in movement rationalisation of 1.3 MT coal and potential annual savings of Rs 458 crore of transportation cost," the minister said.

(Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/)