Pachhwara coal mine: Coal stopped coming to Punjab after 6 days of resuming supply

PSPCL sources confirmed that no coal supply has come from Pachhwara from December 22 onwards. Sources confirmed that truckers who load coal from the mine area to railway station have gone on strike over payment issue and till that issue is resolved, truckers have told that they won’t allow coal supply to come to Punjab.

The PSPCL has two coal-fired power plants — Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant at Lehra Mohabbat in Bathinda rural and Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Power Plant at Rupnagar (Ropar). PSPCL sources revealed that earlier labourers had gone on strike demanding compensation for the period when the mine was closed, which was resolved, and now the truckers have raised a similar issue.

It may be noted that truckers are dealing with a mining contractor who has been hired by PSPCL for providing coal supplies to Punjab.

After years of the mine being embroiled in legal tangles due to poor quality of coal, the Supreme Court allowed Punjab to resume work in September 2021. However, it encountered a groundwater problem after that. But the PSPCL authorities completed the dewatering process of the mine and its first rake came on December 16, 2022, to the Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Power Plant at Ropar which was received by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

According to the Punjab government, if coal supplies come regularly from Pachhwara mine, it can save money up to Rs 1,500 crore per annum.

PSPCL authorities said that the coal mine was allotted to Punjab to generate power in the state-owned power plants. Punjab had three thermal power plants at the time.

The Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant at Lehra Mohabbat in Bathinda rural was largely using coal from the Pachhwara mine. It initially had two units, each of a 210 MW capacity. The third unit came into operation in 2008, while the unit number four was started in 2010 – both of a 250 MW capacity. Now, Punjab has two state-owned thermal power plants. The one in Bathinda city area was closed down by the previous Congress government.

“The mine would have solved power woes of the state and would even have made power cheaper for consumers as it has coal reserves for 50 years, but most of the time it remained entangled in legal issues, perhaps due to political reasons,” said PSPCL sources.

The coal mine is spread over an area of 1,051 hectares and will produce 7 million tons of coal every year. As of now, the situation is the coal can be used only in state-owned thermal plants located at Lehra Mohabbat (Bathinda rural) and Ropar. The coal can also be used by three independent power producers (IPPs) located in Talwandi Sabo, Nabha and Goindwal Sahib, but hitherto no clearance has been provided by the Punjab government to provide coal to IPPs.

“If the Centre allows the state to use the coal at private thermal plants located within the state, then it can further reduce the cost of power generation. But first we need to sort out the issue of getting regular coal supplies from Pachhwara mine because the supply was stopped just after six days. PSPCL authorities must resolve this issue soon to stem coal crisis at thermal plants,” said a PSPCL official. The Pachhwara coal mine came under the scanner during UPA’s second term after it was found to be one of the many coal mines providing poor quality coal. In 2014, the Supreme Court cancelled its allocation along with 212 other coal mines in the country.