The Coal Ministry is likely to cancel surplus Coal blocks of Reliance Power which were allotted for 4,000 MW Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP). The company has been extracting about 9 MnT of extra Coal per year from these blocks.
Considering the proposal of Public Accounts Committee to de-allocate the surplus Coal blocks , the Ministry is likely to act on the proposal and restrict 9 MnT surplus Coal extractions by Reliance Power. The Supreme Court (SC) in Aug’14 ordered to ban the diversion of Coal allotted for all UMPPs. The ministry has now taken action on the matter after eight months since SC’s verdict.
On 24 Sep’14 SC gave verdict to de-allocate all Coal blocks, except those which were allotted to UMPPs & PSUs which were not allied with any joint venture. The SC spared 12 Coal blocks related to UMPP, out of which, 10 belonged to NTPC and the rest two were attached with Sasan project. The Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project holds two blocks namely, Moher, Moher-Amlori Extn and Chhatrasal block located in Madhya Pradesh.
Blocks Allotted to Sasan Project
| Blocks | Name of the party | State | End Use | Allotment Date | Coal fields | Reserves |
| Moher | PF Corporation Sasan UMPP | MP | Power | 13.09.2006 | Singrauli | 402 |
| Moher-Amlori | PF Corporation Sasan UMPP | MP | Power | 13.09.2006 | Singrauli | 98 |
| Chhatrasal | PF Corporation Sasan UMPP | MP | Power | 26.10.2006 | Singrauli | 150 |
Quantity in MnT
This exemption came with a caveat that spared Coal blocks can only be used for captive purposes of feeding the Ultra Mega Power Plant.
On the current matter the committee has also recommended that the utilization of the surplus Coal from Sasan UMPP should concur with the objective to pass the benefit of cheaper Coal directly to consumers. The ministry had earlier given permission to Reliance Power to partly fire its Chitrangi Project by utilizing 9 MnT of Coal from Sasan Project that would remain after feeding the UMPP.
Reliance Power recently started Sasan UMPP’s 6th unit on Apr’15 which is now fully operational with 3,960 MW (6×660 MW).
Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project is one of the 12 UMPPs planned by the Government of India and was started in Mar’13 bearing national importance of benefiting seven Indian stat. Madhya Pradesh is the largest beneficiary with 1,485 MW as 37.5% of total capacity allocated to the state.
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