The Coal Ministry has directed Uttar Pradesh to expedite development of its 973-million-tonne Saharpur Jamarpani captive coal block in Jharkhand, as reported by Business Standard. The block was allotted to Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (UPRVUNL) on August 13, 2015, under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015. According to the ministry statement, more than ten years since the allotment, no progress has been made towards operationalisation of the block due to lack of requisite initiative by UPRVUNL. The Saharpur Jamarpani coal block in Jharkhand's Dumka district has reserves of more than 973 million tonnes and was specifically allotted to meet the fuel needs of the state's thermal power plants.
The ministry noted that the entire coal requirement of Uttar Pradesh's power plants continues to be met by Coal India Ltd (CIL) due to the non-operational status of the Saharpur Jamarpani block. As reported by Business Standard, 14 other coal blocks allotted for captive use in the power sector on or after the allotment of Saharpur Jamarpani have already been operationalised and commenced production for their respective end-use plants. The ministry stated that coal availability at UPRVUNL's thermal power plants did not indicate a critical constraint, with the Centre seeking to strengthen fuel supplies for the state's thermal power plants.
According to the ministry data reported by Business Standard, as of September 15, none of UPRVUNL's thermal power plants was in the critical-stock category. Coal stocks at the plants rose from 7.25 lakh tonnes on September 1 to 8.41 lakh tonnes on September 15. Over the previous seven days, the plants received an average of about 0.90 lakh tonnes of coal a day, compared with consumption of around 0.83 lakh tonnes per day. Coal India Ltd supplied an average of around 17.7 rakes a day to UPRVUNL's power plants over the preceding 10 days, with additional quantities offered under the road/RCR mode to generators on September 3 to augment stocks.
The ministry highlighted unloading constraints at various UPRVUNL plants that are resulting in periodic restrictions on rake placement by the Railways and limiting further augmentation of coal supplies, as reported by Business Standard. It also pointed to relatively low utilisation of UPRVUNL's thermal generation capacity, with the current-month plant load factor of its thermal power plants standing at around 48 per cent, despite coal stocks having risen above 8 lakh tonnes. The ministry advised Uttar Pradesh to address operational constraints at its generating stations and ensure optimal utilisation of available coal stock, noting that the relatively low generation could not be attributed to a shortage of coal at the plants.
The ministry has advised Uttar Pradesh to prioritise early development of the Saharpur Jamarpani block to reduce dependence on external coal supplies and strengthen long-term fuel security for its thermal power plants, according to Business Standard. Developing the Saharpur Jamarpani block would give UPRVUNL an additional domestic source of coal and could reduce its dependence on supplies from external sources over the longer term. The intervention comes amid recent media reports of concerns over coal supplies in the Uttar Pradesh power sector, though the ministry noted that coal availability at UPRVUNL's thermal power plants did not indicate a critical constraint.
