Running out of coal, Gehlot brings Sonia in loop as Chhattisgarh delays new mines

NEW DELHI: Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has turned to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the hope of speeding up state-level mining clearances for starting production from coal from blocks allotted to its power projects in

Chattisgarh

where the party is in power.

In a letter to the party president last week, Gehlot said the delay in mining clearances for the Parsa coal block from the Chattisgarh government could leave 4,340 megawatt generation capacity in Rajasthan stranded because the mineable reserves of two mines fuelling Rajasthan’s power plants since 2013 are expected to be exhausted by the end of this month.

Gehlot’s knock on Gandhi’s door comes after his appeal to party colleague and Chattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel in October and letters from his senior bureaucrats seeking interventions by the Union power and coal ministries went unheeded, as first reported by TOI on December 12.

If the new mines are delayed and the existing mines run out of coal, tariffs in Rajasthan will rise further as utilities will be forced to source coal or power – or both – from outside at much higher cost. This could have a negative political fallout as tariffs were recently raised by 33 paise per unit, making them one of the highest in the country.

The blocks in the eye of the storm are, Parsa East, Kante Basan, Parsa and Kante Extension in Sarguja district of Chattisgarh. Located in the Hasdeo Arand forest area, the blocks and mines have been in the eye of protests by tribals who in October opposed mining activity in the area.

Parsa East and Kante Basan were allotted to Rajasthan power utility in 2007 and their Phase-I mines will run out of coal this month. Parsa and Kante Extensions were allotted in 2015 and are causing strain between the two Congress-ruled states.

The Chattisgarh forest department has yet to give mining clearance for Parsa -- with a projected production capacity of 5 million tonne per annum -- even after the Union environment and forests ministry according Stage-II forest clearance on October 21.

For the Kante East and Kante Basan blocks, the Chattisgarh administration is yet to make the necessary amendment in forest clearance for handing over 1,136 hectares of land approved by the

Union green ministry

. The additional land is estimated to raise production from the two mines by 40% to 21 million tonnes a year from 15 million tonnes.

For the Kante Extension block, with an estimated production of nine million tonne a year, the Sarjuguda district magistrate is yet to hold public hearings needed for clearance.

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