Taking into account the insufficient quantity of coal rejects generated by the washeries of Coal India Ltd, the inter-ministerial committee constituted by the Ministry of Coal for framing a policy on coal and rejects allocation for washery rejects-based power plants, has decided that there is no need to consider any linkage of washery rejects at present.
At the second meeting of the IMC held in New Delhi last month, the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Ltd pointed out that the availability of rejects stood at 20.19 lakh tonnes in 2011-12 and 12.70 lakh tonnes in 2012-13. With the commissioning of new washeries planned by CIL, the quantity of rejects is expected to reach 18.5 million tpa by the beginning of the 13th Five-Year Plan period.
The IMC, while deciding not to recommend any washery rejects linkage, took into consideration the position taken by the Ministry of Power on the issue at the meeting.
The MoP assumes the Gross Calorific Value of washery rejects as 1,500 Kcal/kg and that of F-grade coal as 3,800 Kcal/kg. Based on these assumptions, the requirement of run-of-mine coal as sweetener in washery rejects-based power plants is 22 per cent. Accordingly, the MoP recommended linkage for ROM coal to the extent of 22 per cent of the total fuel requirement in case of such power plants.
Since washery rejects-based power plants are supposed to be linked to washeries, no recommendation was made for providing any washery rejects linkage. The requirement of rejects other than that available in-house could be met by CIL through the e-auctioning route.
On providing fresh linkages for ROM coal, CIL’s Director (Marketing) said at the meeting that owing to negative balance reported by the company’s subsidiaries it was getting difficult to honor the commitments already made. Providing fresh linkages would further stress the situation, he added.
After holding detailed deliberations, the IMC noted that in view of the insufficient quantity of washery rejects at present, there was no need to provide any linkage. At a later stage, if the planned washeries of CIL came into operation and substantial quantity of rejects were generated, linkage could be considered.
Considering the availability position of coal and commitments already made by CIL, the IMC did not recommend linkage of ROM coal either for washery rejects-based power plants. It asked CIL to conduct an appropriate study for grading of washery rejects and fixing suitable price bands where necessary.
The IMC in its recommendations said the MoP and CIL could encourage setting up washeries along with rejects-based power plant so that the rejects were consumed on site.
The IMC for formulation of policy on allocation of coal and coal rejects to washery rejects-based power plants was constituted in June last year. It consists of representatives from the Ministry of Power, Ministry of Environment and Forests, CIL, Planning Commission, Coal Controller Organisation, in addition to senior officials from the Ministry of Coal.
