Coal supply to Bongaigaon TPP:CIL to divert Farakka, Kahalgaon supplies to compensate NECL shortage

In view of North Eastern Coalfields Limited`s (NECL) inability to make the committed coal supplies to the 3x250 MW stage-I of NTPC`s Bongaigaon thermal power project (TPP), the parent coal company, Coal India Limited (CIL) has now proposed to meet the feedstock requirements of the plant by diverting the fuel supplies available to power major`s Farakka & Kahalgaon power stations. According to CIL, it would be unjustified to expect the CIL-subsidiary to supply 1.65 MTPA of coal to Bongaigaon project, as per the provisions of the coal linkage granted by the coal ministry,  as the present capacity of NECL allows it to produce only 1.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of coal, which already stands allocated to various consumers, including 0.5 MTPA to Kahalgaon and Farakka plants. Further, there is no scope of improvement in the coal production of the coal company in near future. Thus, NTPC should agree to NECL diverting the share of other two NTPC-run stations, to the Assam project, while the balance 1.15 MTPA could be supplied from Eastern Coalfields Limited`s (ECL) Raniganj coalfields, out of 2 MTPA being supplied to the two thermal stations. The domestic coal producer made these proposals during a recently-held meeting of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) to facilitate a swift resolution of the fuel-supply issue for the Bongaigaon project. 

The coal major further promised to meet the coal requirement of the fuel-starved Farakka & Kahalgaon power stations from other sources, including Sonepur Bazari mine of ECL, which is being expanded to produce about 4.5 MT of coal by the FY 2011-12. Notably, NTPC has coal linkage for all the three units of the Bongaigaon TPP-I, located at Salakati in the Kokarjhar district of Assam, under which the first two units of the project are supposed to get 1.65 MTPA of coal from NECL`s Makum coalfields, while the third unit is to be supplied 0.97 MTPA of coal from ECL