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As part of an ongoing captive block review exercise, the coal ministry has imposed bank guarantee of Rs 138 crore on power generator NTPC Ltd for failure to develop its captive coal block Pakri Barwadih in Jharkhand on time
The block, with reserves of 1.4 billion tonne (BT), is the largest among six such acreages held by NTPC. The company is sitting on a tenth of the total 49 BT captive reserves allocated by the government to companies since 1993.
NTPC was expected to commission the block within four years of its allocation in 2004. An Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) had found in May 2013 that no significant progress had been made for its development and recommended imposing bank guarantee (BG).
“The recommendation has been considered and accepted by the government. The BG, as calculated by Coal Controller’s Office to the extent of Rs 138.6 crore equal to one year’s royalty is to be deposited,” the ministry said in a letter to the company.
Coal from the block is to be supplied to two power plants – 3,200 Mw Darlipalli in Odisha and 4,000 Mw Lara in Chattisgarh.
Both the plants are to be commissioned in 2016-17. The captive block is a Rs 3,193 crore project. NTPC had by June last year invested Rs 1,093 crore in the mine. In addition, Rs 1,139 crore has been invested in the Lara project and Rs 380 crore in the Darlipalli power plant.
The ministry had issued a show-cause notice to NTPC in June last year threatening cancellation of allocation. The company had argued that approval for a part of the land acquisition for the block was pending with the Jharkhand government which is causing the delay.
The ministry’s review comes at the backdrop of severe domestic coal shortage that is fuelling coal imports worth Rs 86,000 crore annually. The delay is attributed to captive miners who failed to commission their blocks on time. The ministry is also reviewing allocations as part of a Supreme Court-monitored probe in the alleged Rs 1.86 lakh crore coal scam.
