Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has said that the government is not entirely in favour of Coal India Ltd (CIL) importing coal from abroad and if at all necessary, lower price and good quality would be major parameters for it.
“As far as importing of coal from abroad, we are not entirely in favour of Coal India doing it. There are are agencies who can do it. CIL is not a company formed to import coal. Its duty is to increase production and to meet our coal requirements. But if at all necessary, we will try to import it from foreign governments, so that we won’t be overpaying and at the same time the country will get good quality coal too,” the minister said on the sidelines of the Maharatna celebrations of CIL here on Monday night
The Kolkata-based company was looking for mines in countries like the United States, Australia and Indonesia and had invited and expression of interest for log-term coal offtake agreement. When asked about the company’s overseas plans, he said, “CIL has not yet started the process of importing. The company has issued an expression of interest (EoI) and got some offers. However, we have not reached on any conclusion. Only if we are ensured that the coal imported is not to costlier and the quality is higher, we will import.”
Centre not to scrap e-auctionThe coal minister has also ruled out scrapping of e-auction of coal and indicated that any such move would increase the pithead stock. “The government has started e-auction only after the Supreme Court has allowed it. It is the only route for people who don’t have a coal linkage. If we stop it, the 10-12 per cent of coal sold through it would accumulate. There is already a huge stock of coal at pitheads which is creating a problem for us,” Jaiswal said. The world’s largest coal miner was trying to rope in railways for forming a joint venture to avoid this problem. According to the company, nearly 70 million tonne of stock is lying at the pitheads due to shortage of rakes and via e-auction coal is sold at nearly 80-90 per cent higher rate than the administered price.
Price rise after July wage revision
The Coal Ministry has hinted about a price hike by Coal India Ltd after it reviews the additional burden from the new wage agreement in July.
“A new wage agreement will be due from this July and after reviewing the additional burden, the ministry would look into a coal price hike,” said Jaiswal. However, according to reports, trade Unions have threatened to go for a strike if the company does not raise salaries from next month.
When asked about the problems with the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the “go” and “no-go” areas, the minister said, “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is convening a review meeting on this on June 7. What he wants to do is to come up with a solution to strike a balance between the environment and the coal production.” Meanwhile, Jaiswal added that proposed competitive bidding for the allocation of coal blocks will be held soon.