E-Paper
Centre discriminating against Punjab to benefit Adani: Manish Tewari
Congress MP Manish Tewari on Monday accused the Centre of discriminating against the people of Punjab to benefit the Adani Group by directing the state government to ensure that coal is procured through a long route that includes ports operated by the conglomerate.
New Delhi
Congress MP Manish Tewari on Monday accused the Centre of discriminating against the people of Punjab to benefit the Adani Group by directing the state government to ensure that coal is procured through a long route that includes ports operated by the conglomerate.
Speaking on the matter of urgent public importance in Lok Sabha, the Anandpur Sahib MP said for generating power, Punjab procures coal from the Mahanadi Coalfields.
“If that coal is brought directly to Punjab via rail road the distance that it has to travel is 1,830 km. The power ministry wrote a letter to the Punjab government on November 30, 2022, and said that it cannot get the coal directly via rail road and will have to take the coal to Paradeep port, then take the water route passing by Sri Lanka and reach the Adani ports in Dahej and Mundra, and then from there take the coal 1,500 km via rail road to Punjab,” he claimed.
“The cost of coal transportation has gone up from ₹4,350 per tonne to ₹6,750 per tonne. The cost of 1KW power has increased from ₹3.6 to ₹5,” he claimed.
Tewari urged the government to take back the directive and allow coal to be procured from the Mahanadi Coalfields directly by the rail route.
Tewari’s remarks come in the wake of continued attack on the government over the Adani-Hindenburg issue and the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into it.
