NTPC rejects compromise formula, matter may go to the Cabinet.
The dispute between the power and coal ministries over the relocation of the North Karanpura power project in Jharkhand is set to intensify. State-run power company NTPC has rejected the coal ministry’s argument that the proposed 1,980-Mw power plant at Chatra district would sterilese at least 20 billion tonnes of the dry-fuel.
NTPC plans to set up a 3x660-Mw super thermal power plant at the location. The coal ministry has opposed it, saying the site was situated above an estimated six billion tonnes of coal reserves and within 300 metres of coal seams, amenable for opencast mining. The reserves would be sterilised owing to the location of the proposed plant, the catchment area of a water dam and other infrastructural facilities.
As a way out, it had proposed developing the project as a joint venture between Coal India (CIL) and NTPC. CIL could facilitate acquisition of land at a new site and assist in getting statutory clearances. According to the coal ministry, the project size could also be increased to 4,000 Mw at the new non-coal bearing site. But with NTPC rejecting the compromise formula, the dispute is now headed for the Cabinet.
According to industry norms, coal mining in India is not likely to go beyond 300 metres. “The power plant would not jeopardise coal reserves. Most of the reserves located at the site are present below a depth of 300 metre. At present, no coal mining in the country takes place at a depth of more than 200 metres,” said a senior NTPC executive.
Also, NTPC has already made some investment in the project. “Relocating the plant would throw back our efforts for development by three to four years. We have already got environment and forest clearance and acquired land at the site,” he said.
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A coal ministry official said CIL could take over the land acquired by NTPC and reimburse the expenditure. “Besides, we have even proposed joint mining in the area and give coal to NTPC,” he said.
This, however, did not seem to have broken the ice with the power utility. “These are hypothetical solutions. Joint mining would be highly uneconomical at that depth,” the NTPC official said.
The company has even proposed reducing its land requirement for the plant or shifting to a location where the amount of the reserves are least disturbed, informed a senior official from the power ministry. The coal ministry, however, maintains that even if the plant is located to an area where coal is at depth of 500 metres, it would imply blocking more coal reserves due to the need for power and coal evacuation and transportation corridors.