Singareni Collieries Company Limited is facing problems relating to land acquisition that has become a hindrance to the company's expansion plans.
SCCL is planning a capital expenditure of close to Rs.11,000 crore during the XII Plan. Of which, Rs.7,000 crore is likely to be incurred on its proposed thermal power plant. “Land acquisition has brought the expansion plans to a grinding halt and its impact will be felt later,” Chairman and Managing Director S. Narsing Rao said.
Mr. Narsing Rao, who is tipped to take over as Coal India chairman shortly, told reporters here on Friday that farmers were unwilling to part with their lands in the backdrop of the proposed Land Acquisition Act. The families likely to be displaced were insisting on payment of six times the cost of land, as proposed, for giving their land.
“They want us to wait till the legislation is passed by Parliament in case we refuse to pay the amount demanded,” he said. The same was the case with the Recognition of Forest Rights Act where the company was facing difficulties in land acquisition, he said. He said the public sector undertaking produced 52 million tonnes of coal in the current year. It was planning to invest Rs.2,000 crore to scale up production from underground mines from 12 million tonnes to 18 million tonnes. On coal shortage, he said the shortfall was estimated at 100 million tonnes and India was lagging way behind others in augmenting its coal production capacity.
