The Central government on Friday announced that most of the contentions issues pertaining to fuel supply agreements (FSAs) had been resolved and power companies were likely to ink pacts with Coal India Limited (CIL) in a month’s time.
The announcement came after a meeting between Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia here. “Most of the issues related to the contentious FSAs have been resolved. Most of the issues have been addressed. The FSAs between power companies and CIL are likely to be signed in a month’s time,” Mr. Jaiswal told journalists here.
The development comes close on the heels of the latest directive by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) asking power producers to enter into FSAs with CIL within a month. The PMO directive of December 17 came after the November deadline set by the PMO for signing FSAs was missed, amid differences over various issues, including coal quality.
Noting that discussions were freewheeling and positive, Mr. Scindia said: “We are not sitting on the opposite side of the table; we are sitting on the same side of the table. We will be ready to sign the FSAs over the next month”.
Both the Ministers said that a joint decision had been taken to ensure that there would be no distinction on FSAs for public and private power companies. “We have taken a joint decision that there will be no distinction. Now, the modalities related to those issues, please leave it to the companies concerned to sort out and then sign the FSAs,” Mr. Scindia said.
Private power companies have raised concerns over certain FSA clauses, which they claim are in favour of PSUs. On the issue of pooling of coal prices, a joint policy by Power and Coal Ministries is expected to be ready in a week or ten days. According to Mr. Scindia, both Ministries would make joint efforts to re-allocate three coal blocks to NTPC.