The management of the ailing Dankuni Coal Complex (DCC), an outfit of Coal India Ltd, has submitted a five-pronged survival plan for the complex.
The plan has been submitted by the chairman and managing director of South Eastern Coalfields, G K Jha, to Nirupam Sen, the state minister for industry, public undertaking and industrial reconstruction, and planning and development.
The state has exclusive purchase rights for gas from the complex, which is meant to be supplied to consumers through a state agency, called Greater Calcutta Gas Supply Corporation (GCGSC). The revival plan has asked for revision in the price paid by the government for gas supplied by DCC and sold through GCGSC.
This should be linked to the price of furnace oil, which is used as a substitute for the gas by many consumers. The aim should be to keep the price of gas a little below that of the prevailing price of furnace oil, with the government providing the cushion.
Byproducts from the gas generation process also find application as raw material in a number of industries. Units set up in the vicinity of the complex will enable the company to sell its byproducts and reduce its losses to some extent.
The plan has therefore proposed to the state government that it should offer a package to attract businesses to the vicinity of the complex and use its products.
Lack of offtake for gas produced from the complex has resulted in under-utilisation of capacity. The complex has an installed capacity of 1.5 lakh normal meter cube but the state government sources around 1.11 lakh normal metre cube of gas per day. The excess gas as a result needs to be burnt off.
The management is also studying a proposal to use excess gas for power generation that can be used in-house for coal processing. Further, it wants to sell gas directly to consumers by laying out several kilometers of new pipeline in the Rishra and Hoogly areas.
Laying pipeline for supplying the gas will require investment of Rs 3 crore, and "we are ready to install the supply network if we are sure of constant demand for gas", explained Jha.
Jha is also exploring the possibility of processing phosphorous free coke at the unit. While coal will be procured from Madhya Pradesh, the processing will be done at Dankuni. This coke has a huge market in the ferro alloy industry. The unit is at present engaged in a viability study for this project.
