SAMBALPUR | Oct 24, 2017: The Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of MCL, AK Jha has refuted allegations of shortage of coal supply leading to shutting down of three units of Captive Power Plant (CPP) of Nalco. Though coal production of MCL’s Talcher Coalfields was lagging behind the target by 7.8 per cent, Jha said the PSU is committed to deliver at least 80 per cent of annual contract with Nalco.

Stating that he had received no report of coal shortage, Jha exuded confidence that MCL would make up the loss from Talcher Coalfields in next six months.

Apparently, the State Government has been indifferent to the problems of Talcher Coalfields of MCL. The MCL, which had set a target to produce 178 MT of coal in 2017-18, revised it to 150 MT due to disruption in Talcher coalfields. However, Jha underplayed the issue and said there was good coordination with the Government. “Certain things get delayed as policy decision takes time. There have been land constraints to expedite reclamation and rehabilitation (R&R) work which could have otherwise increased the production of MCL,” Jha said, adding that they have offered the Government to acquire private land on their behalf for which payment would be made by them for development of resettlement colonies.

While coal production in Talcher has been affected, it has been smooth in MCL mines at Ib Valley in Jharsuguda and Basundhara in Sundargarh. Coal India has set a target to produce 600 MT of coal of which MCL’s share is 150 MT with 60 MT coming from IB Valley and 90 MT from Talcher.

In September, Union Coal Minister Piyush Goyal had apprised Naveen Patnaik of the fact that during the last two and a half years, there have been 418 incidents of stoppage of work/disruption. As many as 329 letters have been sent to police for registering FIRs. In addition, 89 letters have been written to the district administration for providing assistance in resumption of production and dispatch.

Jha said disruption/stoppage of work has resulted in loss of coal production amounting to 44.22 MT, sale value of which is approximately `4,400 crore. This has also been detrimental to the revenue earnings of the State which has directly lost approximately `892 crore that it could have earned through royalty, DMF, and GST.

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