BADAL MEETS UNION COAL MINISTER: Seeks dedicated coal linkage for upcoming power plants in state

New Delhi, October 30, 2012:  Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called on the Union Coal Minister Sriparkash Jaiswal to seek dedicated coal linkage immediately for the upcoming thermal plants at Goindwaal Sahib, Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo.

The Chief Minister met Jaiswal in his office here at the Shastri Bhawan this afternoon and apprised him that the GVK Power Limited was constructing thermal Power plant at Goindwal Sahib, the first unit of which was likely to be made operational by May 2013. The project has been allotted Tokisud Coal block in Jharkhand state exclusively, which has been delayed due to some of its area under Forest land.

He informed the Union Minister that he had also called up his Jharkhand counterpart Arjun Munda for getting the transfer of land expedited. In the light of these circumstances the coal supply from the said Coal block was likely to be delayed further and therefore the Chief Minister requested Jaiswal to direct the Ministry of Coal for providing temporary allocation from the mines of Coal India limited of 1.4 million tons of coal for one year to the project from February 2013 to January 2014.

He pointed out that this would ensure that the 540 MW Power plant capacity does not remain idle and the GVK Power limited would return such loaned coal after commencement of Coal production from Tokisud Coal block. He said that early commissioning of the project would ease pressure on the already heavy loaded northern regional grid.

Flagging another issue to enhance the sanctioned coal linkage from 1200 MW and 1800 MW by the Ministry of Coal to 1400 MW in case of Rajpura Thermal plant and 1980 MW for Talwandi Sabo Thermal plant, the Chief Minister sought personal intervention of Jaiswal to resolve this issue at the earliest otherwise the commissioning and power generation of both these plants would be adversely affected.

Badal also told the Union Minister that the Ministry of Power had already approved the installed capacity of 1400 MW and 1980 MW of Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo thermal plants respectively. 

Responding to the issues raised by Badal, the Union Minister assured him of positive outcome and said that he would soon convene a special meeting of the senior officers of his ministry and the Coal India limited to amicably resolve all these pending matters to ensure the timely commissioning of these thermal plants in the state.

Earlier, the Chief Minister also met the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power Jyotiraditya M Scindia this morning in his office at Shram Shakti Bhawan to update him about the status of these three thermal power plants at Goindwal Sahib, Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo. He also informed the Union Minister of State that the state was committed to complete all these ongoing power projects within the time frame so that these could be commissioned for generation but the only difficulty being faced by the state government was in the allocation of Coal blocks.

Realising the hardships faced the state government in getting the Coal linkage for its power plants Scindia promised to the Chief Minister that he would soon take up the entire issue with the Union Coal Minister to be resolved at his personal level on the priority so that the Power generation, which was a critical factor for the overall development of any state should not be hampered in Punjab.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by his Principal Secretary SK Sandhu, Special Principal Secretary KJS Cheema, Secretary Power Anirudh Tiwari, Resident Commissioner Punjab Bhawan K Siva Prasad and Director Generation PSPCL GS Chhabra.