Odisha asks allocates to expedite work on coal blocks

Coal ministry allocated 32 coal blocks in Odisha. Of these, Mandakini-B, Utkal-D, New Patrapara, Naini and Baitarani west were deallocated

After getting a jolt from the Coal ministry that deallocated five coal blocks in Odisha for inordinate delay in their development, the state government has urged allocates to take immediate action for developing their allocated blocks.

Apart from private allocates like Tata Power, Sterlite Energy and GMR Energy, the energy department has also given instructions to state PSUs- Odisha Power Generation Corporation Ltd (OPGC), Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) and Odisha Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (OTPCL) to speed up action on their coal blocks.

"Since steps have not been taken for developing coal blocks, those are being deallocated by the Government of India. This has given rise to an embarrassing situation. It is therefore requested that immediate necessary steps may kindly be taken to develop the coal blocks which have been alloted in your favour”, Sangramjit Nayak, joint secretary (energy) wrote to the coal block allocates.

The Coal ministry had allocated 32 coal blocks in Odisha. Of these, five blocks- Mandakini-B, Utkal-D, New Patrapara, Naini and Baitarani west were deallocated by the ministry as per the recommendation of the inter-ministerial group (IMG) formed to oversee status of allocated coal blocks.

Among the allocated blocks, only the Talabira block awarded to Hindalco Industries had begun production.

Seven other blocks were in advanced stages of development, having either been granted prospecting licenses (PL) or mining leases (ML) include Utkal B1 and Ramchandi coal blocks allocated to Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL), Utkal B2 (Monnet Ispat & Energy), Utkal-C (Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd-IMFA), Utkal-E (National Aluminium Company-Nalco), OPGC (Manoharpur and dip side of Manoharpur) and north of Arkhapal and Srirampur coal block allocated to Strategic Energy Technology Systems Private Limited (SETSPL), a joint venture between a consortium of Tata companies and Sasol of South Africa.

A recent order of the state government has cleared the decks on processing of coal blocks without irregularities- a process that had almost grounded to a halt after the alleged scam in coal block allocations.

Accordingly, the state steel & mines department had come out with a checklist for the allocates.