After 8 years, PSPCL to get coal from its mine in Pachwara
After a gap of eight years, Punjab will receive the first railway rake of coal from the Pachwara coal mine which was allotted by the Union government to the state.
PATIALA After a gap of eight years, Punjab will receive the first railway rake of coal from the Pachwara coal mine which was allotted by the Union government to the state. This will help the state save ₹1000 cr approximately every year and end dependence upon the limited supply of coal from Coal India Limited.
Punjab will get 7 lakh million tons of coal per annum from this mine. About 70,000 metric tons of coal has already been mined, to date.
With the operationalization of this mine, PSPCL will not have to purchase imported coal, saving the state hundreds of crores of rupees per annum. Last year, PSPCL spent ₹520 cr on the import of coal.
Allotted in 2001, legal hassles delayed start of mine
Pachhwara central coal block was allotted to PSPCL (erstwhile PSEB) in 2001. PSPCL and M/s EMTA Coal Ltd formed a JV company PANEM Coal Mines Ltd, and the supply of coal from this mine started in March 2006.
However, Supreme Court, on September 24, 2014, cancelled 204 coal blocks out of a total of 218 allocations made from 1993 to 2010, including the Pachhwara central coal block allotted to PSPCL. Till March 2015, PANEM had supplied 52.68 million tonnes of coal to PSPCL thermal power stations. After that, the coal mine operations stalled.
Thereafter, Pachhwara central coal mine was again allotted to PSPCL on March 31, 2015. However, this also hit a legal tangle and mine operations were stalled for almost seven years.
On September 11, 2018, M/s Dilip Buildcon Ltd (DBL) and VPR Mining Infrastructure (VPR) Consortium were selected as reverse auctioning, and the coal mining agreement (CMA) was signed between PSPCL and M/s DBL Pachwara Coal Mine Private Ltd (SPV) but again coal mine could not be operationalized due to court cases.
Later in the year 2022, due to agitation by transporters and vendors claiming previous payments relating to EMTA and law and order problems in the area, transportation of coal to the railway could not be started for three months.
After various meetings with the Jharkhand government, local administration and ministry of coal, the transportation of coal finally started on December 2, and the first coal rake was dispatched on Monday. “We are expecting the coal to reach here on December 15. It’s a great relief as Punjab as from the last seven years we are facing coal crisis,” said a director of PSPCL.
He said, “Last year PSPCL spent ₹520 cr on import of four lakh tons of imported coal. Not only this amount will be saved, but PSPCL can also save an additional ₹600 cr because of having a coal mine. This will reduce the burden on PSPCL.”
He said that the Punjab government should press the Union government for allowing this coal to be used in private thermal plants, as they are supplying power only to Punjab. This will further reduce power generation costs.
“Punjab government has taken up the matter with the Union government for allowing the use of coal from Pachhwara to private thermal plants in Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo as the coal cost of these plants is also being borne by PSPCL. Punjab will increase mining capacity in the coming years to 15 lakh million tonnes per year to get the maximum benefit from this mine and meet the future coal requirement,” PSPCL official added.