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Nine out of the 46 producing blocks are in the state, but the worst affected are the state utilities— West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL),West Bengal Mineral Trading & Development Corporation (WBMTDC), West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB)— and RP-Sanjiv Goenka's CESC. According to the Supreme Court order, allottees of all 46 coal blocks have been directed to pay an additional levy of Rs 295 per tonne of coal extracted from the date of extraction.
By that calculation, the state utilities and CESC's blocks are the ones in production for long. State government sources said that the penalty on state utilities would stand at Rs 1,900 crore and CESC would have to shell out Rs 600 crore. CESC officials could not confirm the figure.
As far as the steel companies are concerned, the blocks allocated have been in production not for long, relatively speaking. Usha Martin officials said, the block was being mined since 2010. Usha Martin's penalty calculation, accordingly, works out to Rs 60 crore.
"We have calculated the penalty, but we are still examining the matter. Whether we will be given coal linkages, have to be seen. We are doubly disadvantaged, so far, we have not been considered for coal linkage because we had a mine," a Usha Martin official said.
Jai Balaji group and Sova Ispat's block, Ardhagram, has been in operation for the last 18-20 months. So far, they have been mining 30,000 tonnes a month. Sova Ispat has a 75% share in Ardhagram.
Though Bengal accounts for nine of the producing blocks, JSW's blocks linked to the mega steel project are among the non-producing blocks that have been de-allocated. The project is Bengal single largest investment at Rs 35,000 crore and has been delayed by seven years for want of iron ore linkage.
With the coal block de-allocation, the project has become even more uncertain. JSW has three coal blocks--coking and non-coking--in Bengal.
