Coal India has introduced a one-time offer that allows power utilities to lift the fuel directly from mines.
The scheme is available for independent power producers drawing coal under fuel supply agreements (FSAs) as well.
“A one-time offer is being made to all power utilities drawing coal under the FSA during 2012-13 to lift the coal, which is held in the stocks on ‘as is where is' basis with the stipulation that the power stations will make their own evacuation arrangement,” CIL has said in a notice. This is the first time Coal India has initiated such a move.
Coal India said it had “substantial quantity of coal stocks at the various colliery pitheads of the different subsidiary coal companies.”
It has eight subsidiaries, out of which seven are coal producing — Eastern Coalfields, Bharat Coking Coal, Central Coalfields, Norhtern Coalfields, Western Coalfields, South Eastern Coalfields and Mahanadi Coalfields.
The new scheme by CIL will not only make more coal to power utilities but will also liquidate stocks at mine heads.
“This will serve the objective of honouring the FSA up to trigger point with normal dispatches and to even exceed it by allowing liquidation from the stocks wherever the power utilities come forward to lift by either road-cum-rail arrangements, now the railways have agreed to move such coal through good sheds,” the CIL notice dated June 12 said.
As per information, CIL has over 60 million tonnes of stocks piled up at pitheads due to problems like inadequate rakes for removing the same.
The government in April had issued a directive to Coal India to commit itself to a minimum of 80 per cent of fuel supply to power producers, failing which it would attract penalty.
The directive was issued following a meeting between the power sector honchos and the PMO.
The coal major accounts for 80 per cent of the total domestic output. It has set a target of 464 mt output for the current fiscal.
