Coal ministry issues notice to GMDC,may deallocate coal blocks in Naini,Morga II

In the notice,the Ministry of Coal has observed that no serious effort has been made by the GMDC and PIPDICL to develop the coal blocks and that overall progress was not satisfactory. In case of Morga II block,GMDC had neither applied for licence nor submitted detailed exploration plan within three months of allotment of the block.

In case of Naini block,subsequent to its allotment,GMDC and PIPDICL were required to form a joint venture (JV) for carrying out exploration and mining activities in the block. However,till date,the ministry has noted that no such JV has been formed and both the corporations wanted to carry out mining separately.

Subsequent to the allocation of the Morga II block,GMDC had signed an agreement with Hyderabad-based KSK Energy for setting up a 1,750 MW pit head power plant and supplying power to GMDC at Rs 1.88 per unit.

For the remaining 1,000 MW,as the block has capacity of 2,750 MW,tenders were invited and Ahmedabad-based Torrent Power was the lowest bidder.

For Naini block,GMDC had again inked an agreement with KSK Energy to set up a 1,750 MW pit head power plant.

However,the state government had not approved the GMDC’s agreement,and instead,it split the entire block between Gujarat-based Adani group and Torrent Power.

But state officials said that so far,no work has been initiated to first develop the mines and to start the process of putting up the pit head power plants.

A senior official in the secretariat said that delay has occurred because of competition among the three companies,KSK,Torrent and Adani to get the blocks to fuel their power plants.

The state government has allocated half the block to Adani group as Adani has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) for supply of 1,000 MW power from Mundra power plant.