The Prime Minister's Office is understood to have agreed to the new supply model proposed by CIL wherein supplies would start from 65 per cent in the first year of signing the fuel supply agreement (FSA) and go up to 80 per cent in the fifth year.
But the public sector miner will to have to pay higher penalty if supplies fall beyond the contracted volumes and not just 0.01 per cent, as decided in the current FSAs.
“We will be approaching the Coal India board. They will take the final decision. Demand has to be looked in many ways – whether you are going to supply on annual contracted supply or going to supply at trigger value, which can be 65-80 (per cent). All these things have to be worked out,” the Coal Secretary, Mr S. K Srivastava, told reporters after the PMO review meeting.
According to estimates, Coal India may fall short of nearly 45 million tonnes annually. To meet this gap, it may have to import 30 million tonnes. The Coal Ministry and Coal India are exploring the option of MMTC or STC acting as nodal agency and import on behalf of Coal India.
Source: The Hindu
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