Steel min pulls up CIL for not meeting demand

In a recent meeting chaired by coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal to assess the status of the National Coal Distribution Policy (NCDP),top steel ministry officials said though coal ministry has issued Letters of Assurance (LoAs) for 75 per cent of the normative requirement of non-coking coal to sponge iron units as per the NCDP,yet the actual supply by CIL through Fuel Supply Agreements is to the tune of only 50 per cent.

Trashing the contention of the coal ministry that short supply of the fuel was primarily due to CILs negative balance,the officials countered saying CIL Chairman NC Jha has already conceded that there were accumulated coal stocks to the tune of 77 Million Tonne lying idle in his companys mines.

If such huge stocks lying with CIL are made available to the end users through a flexible distribution mechanism,then the problem of limited supply of coal through linkage could be resolved to a great extent, they contended.

The steel ministry officials also came down heavily on the coal ministry for allowing CIL to continue with its e-auctioning system Arguing that there was no basis for CIL auctioning 10 per cent of its total production,the ministry officials demanded that the maharatna company should be asked to refrain from doing so.

Even if e-auctioning is allowed after fulfilling needs of users against existing linkages,only end users and no traders should be allowed to participate to avoid black marketing and profiteering, they told Jaiswal.

However,Jaiswal has so far steadfastly maintained that e-auctioning cannot be stopped because the small and medium consumers would be denied the fuel.