First rake of coal from Jharkhand mine reaches Punjab
Tribune News Service
Ropar, December 16
The state is set to get a major relief in power sector as the coal for its government-run power plants from a coal mine allocated to PSEB, now known as PSPCL, has started reaching in Punjab from Friday.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann who received the first rake of coal at Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant here today claimed that Punjab is now coal surplus state as the coal from Pachwara coal mine in Jharkhand will be sufficient to meet the requirements for next 30 years. He said the state government has started mining coal from Pachwara from December 12 and till today one lakh metric tonnes of coal has already been extracted. The target to ship 25 lakh metric tonnes of coal to Punjab till March 2023 has been fixed, he added.
Allotted in 2001, the supply from Pachwara coal mine was started in March 2006, only to be suspended after eight years in 2014.
Mann, levelling allegations of lapse on part of his predecessors, said the mining in Pachwara coal mine could not be resumed from 2015 till 2018 because the then governments in Punjab didn’t float tenders and thereafter the matter got delayed due to legal issues.
The chief minister said the supply from Pachhwara will help the state save over Rs 1,500 crore per annum which includes expenditure incurred on purchase of Rs 600 crore coal from local sources and Rs 520 crore in imported coal.
He said the coal from this mine is meant for Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant at Lehra Mohabbat in Bathinda and Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Power Plant at Ropar but the Union Power Minister RK Singh has also agreed to allow sale of this coal to private thermal plants in the state.
Replying a query he also stated that the state government has been reviewing the power purchase agreements made under Private Public Partnership (PPA) basis by past regimes.
