Bhubaneswar: The
Odisha government has decided to adopt two different approaches for iron ore
and non-cocking Coal. In the case of iron ore the Odisha government has adopted
a policy to allocate iron ore mines exclusively to the end-user plants. On the
other side, In case of non-cocking coal, the state is opposing allocation of
captive coal blocks. Simply, while the state is opposing commercial mining of
iron ore, it is supporting for commercial coal mining.
In its reply to
the central government’s proposed “auction by competitive bidding of coal Mines
Rules 2012†the Odisha government has argued that priority should be given for
allocation of coal-blocks for commercial mining. The state has proposed that,
more number of coal-blocks should be allocated to the state government companies
nominated by the host coal bearing states for the purpose of commercial coal
mining.
According to an
estimate by the state, the additional requirement of non-coking coal for the
on-going projects in the state is 250 million tonnes per annum, for which
additional coal-reserves of about 10,000 million tonnes would be required. Hence,
the state has demanded that no further coal blocks should be allocated to any
other party under the proposed rule (auction by competitive bidding of coal
Mines Rules 2012) except to the state mining PSU of Odisha (i.e. OMC) till at-
least 70% of the requirement of the existing and ongoing projects is fulfilled.
Out of the total
allocated coal reserves of 15,212 million tonnes to non-CIL companies in Odisha
coal fields only 5.8% are meant of commercial mining by government companies
and rest are captive mines.
The state has
argued that, the companies allocated coal-blocks for captive use in specified
end-users get the double benefit of ‘assured coal supply’ and at ‘a lesser
price’, whereas other companies who have not allocated coal-blocks are put in a
disadvantageous position. So, in order to provide a level playing field for all
the coal based industries in the state or country priority should be given on
commercial mining of coal.
Edited by Tapan Moharana
Leave a Reply