E-Paper
Amid coal crisis, Gehlot to meet Baghel today
The Centre has given approvals for the supply of coal to Rajasthan from Parsa Coal Block and a final approval is under consideration of the Chhattisgarh government
Jaipur: Chief minister Ashok Gehlot will meet his Chhattisgarh counterpart, Bhupesh Baghel, in Raipur on Friday to discuss pending permits affecting the supply of coal for Rajasthan’s thermal power plants. The Centre allotted 15 MTPA coal blocks at Chhattisgarh’s Parsa East-Kanta Basan and 5 MTPA at Parsa for 4340 MW power generation units in Rajasthan in 2015. Of these, mining in the first coal block has been completed. Coal will no longer be supplied to Rajasthan from there and could lead to a power crisis.
The Centre has given approvals for the supply of coal to Rajasthan from Parsa Coal Block. Final approval is under consideration of the Chhattisgarh government.
An official said most of Rajasthan’s area is a desert where neither water nor coal is available for power generation. He added they were in touch with the officials of Chhattisgarh and Gehlot has also held talks with Baghel. The official said amid a potential coal crisis, Gehlot decided to have a discussion with Baghel, a fellow Congress leader.
The clearance to Rajasthan for coal mining was taken up at a meeting between Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Baghel on February 27.
In view of protests by locals and concerns of the Wildlife Institute of India, the Chhattisgarh government has been reluctant to grant the approval.
