Date | May 15, 2016:

State-owned West Bengal Power Development Corporation expects to use coal from captive mines to fuel its power generation units by October-November, officials said.

WBPDCL officials told PTI they expect resumption of mining activity at their own mines by October-November, which will help in easing power tariff further.

Since the existing captive blocks were de-allocated by the Centre in late 2014 and arrangements like JVs to mine coal were also forcibly scrapped, it caused disruption in the supply of the fossil fuel from captive sources, they said.

The gap was matched by Coal India and it was a boon for the state miner as demand for the dry fuel had shrunk.

WBPDCL, which generates 2,700-3,000 MW of electricity a day, consumes 18 rakes of coal daily.

"We hope to meet upto 55 per cent of our coal requirements from reallocated captive blocks. However, to begin with, captive sources will be able to fulfill 40 per cent of our requirements," officials said.

WBPDCL is already in process of appointing Mine Developer and Operator (MDO) for its two largest coal blocks - Pachwara North and Borjora North. It expects to complete the process very soon by overcoming the legal hurdles, they added.

(Source: http://www.moneycontrol.com/)