Temporary truce in coal conflict

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Jaiswal: Time to intervene New Delhi, April 5: The coal ministry today asked Coal India Ltd (CIL) to continue supplying at least 50 per cent of NTPC's fuel needs for the time being to prevent a shutdown of the power generator's units. Eastern Coalfields, a subsidiary of Coal India, had earlier suspended supply to 5,000MW of NTPC's facilities after the state-run power producer held back payment of about Rs 1,000 crore. NTPC's units at Farakka in Bengal and Kahalgaon in Bihar have been affected. "The supply (of coal by CIL to NTPC) has not been discontinued. CIL had taken a decision. But instructions have been sent by our ministry (to CIL) that for the time being at least 50 per cent of the supply should continue," coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal today said on the sidelines of a conference. The two state-run firms have locked horns over the quality of coal. NTPC has refused to sign fuel supply agreements (FSAs) with CIL over inferior coal supply. "We are ready for a third-party inspection (of coal) at the loading point, but not at the reaching point (of coal)," Jaiswal said. NTPC units need coal with a minimum average heat generating capacity of about 3,100 kilocalories, but CIL at times had supplied coal with a capacity of only 2,100 kilocalories. "If boilers are fed with inferior fuel, it will have an impact on the equipment and overall efficiency of the plant," NTPC officials said. NTPC buys around 140 million tonnes of coal to fire its power plants. Meanwhile, a ministerial panel headed by finance minister P. Chidambaram is expected to meet next week to discuss the draft coal regulator bill, which seeks to set up a regulatory authority for the coal sector. "I think it (GoM meeting on coal regulator) is next week," Jaiswal said. CIL troubles The Children's Investment Fund Management (TCI) — the UK-based minority shareholder in CIL — has asked the directors to remove Coal India's chairman-cum-managing director even as the company's employees plan to go on an indefinite strike against the government's proposal to divest its stake in the mining firm to raise Rs 20,000 crore. "If the current CMD is not able to provide solutions to the problems, it is incumbent on the other directors to take appropriate steps to have him replaced with someone who is able to run the company efficiently," TCI said in a letter to CIL directors. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130406/jsp/business/story_16753942.jsp#.UWAznKKBlA0