The Hindu Business Line : Jharkhand coal idles sans rail link

Kolkata, July 28 Vast thermal coal reserves that can yield up to 100 million tonnes (mt) annually are lying untapped in Jharkhand, apparently due to absence of rail connectivity over a 100-km stretch. This is even as the country is hunting for coal abroad to avert the probable power shortages.

“Tori-Shibpur-Hazaribagh rail connectivity was slated to be ready almost a decade ago for evacuation of coal from the rich North Karanpura coalfields. The Coal Ministry has already awarded 28 blocks with an estimated annual production capacity of 60 mt to captive users, mostly power utilities including NTPC. The rest, with an estimated production capacity of 40 mt, was offered to Coal India Ltd. However, the rail connectivity project did not progress beyond the drawing board stage,” Mr R. K. Saha, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Central Coalfields Ltd, told Business Line. CCL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CIL.

According to him, the logistics shortcoming is severely affecting evacuation from CCL’s mines in the area and holding up development of at least two large open-cast mines — Magadh (20 mt) and Amrapali (12 mt) — both linked to NTPC’s proposed power plants at Tandwa (1,980 MW) in Jharkhand and Barh-I (1,980 MW) in Bihar.

Approval soon

“We will get the board approval for developing the Rs 586-crore Amrapali reserve in a week. Other statutory clearances, including forest and environmental clearances are expected within the next three-four months. However, we may go slow in developing the reserve as evacuation of the coal is not possible without railway link,” Mr Saha said.

Fast development of Magadh reserves was not possible either as 50 per cent of the production should be transported to power stations in the North.

Mr R.S. Sharma, NTPC Chairman, has his share of concerns too. The company is offered a number large captive blocks in the Hazaribagh area including the ones linked to the proposed super critical 1,320 MW (2 X 660 MW) Barh-II thermal power station in Bihar, slated to be operational in 2010-11. BHEL has started supplying power equipment for the project.