A consortium of six corporate houses including ArcelorMittal and Reliance Power has sought the Centre's intervention to expedite regulatory clearances for development of a coal block in Orissa.
"Rampia Coal Mine and Energy Pvt Ltd (RCMEPL) is unable to commence drilling and adhere to the milestones and (has) requested Ministry of Coal to impress upon the Government of Orissa and advise them for clearing our PL (prospecting licence) application expeditiously," the consortium has said in a letter to the ministry.
Requesting Centre's intervention, it said it was unable to obtain PL from Orissa government for the block with estimated 645 million tonnes (MT) of reserves, allotted jointly to six parties in January 2008.
Besides ArcelorMittal and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group firm Reliance Power, the RCMEL is jointly owned by Vedanta group firm Sterlite Energy, Essar Group-led Navbharat Power, GMR Energy and Lanco Group.
While ArcelorMittal has 13.5 per cent stake in it, the remaining partners have about 17.5 per cent stake each.
"We would like to reiterate that despite sincere and best efforts of RCMEPL, as also after meeting the requirements of government of Orissa, the PL has not yet been granted by the state government," the letter said.
PL from the state government is among the necessary approvals to examine the availability and quantity of the coal reserves in the given area.
Meanwhile, on November 4, the Coal Ministry had issued a showcause notice to the consortium for delays in development of Rampia and Dip side of the coal block.
The Ministry, in its notice, had said the firm has repeatedly failed to keep its promises and is thus, non- serious about timely development of the block.
The government also said that if the consortium does not respond within 30 days of the issuance of showcause notice the block could be de-allocated. Sources said despite the consortium being in constant communication with the Coal Ministry on the development the notices were served.
