An impending coal crisis is lurking on Congress ruled Rajasthan that may hit power production in the coming days. But it will be interesting to see whether and how the Congress will blame the Narendra Modi led government for this crisis scripted by the Congress led Chhattisgarh government.
The chief minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot and his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel have locked horns after the Chhattisgarh government withheld permission of the mining of the Parsa coal mines. As per a report in TV9, Chhattisgarh government has not given permission to Rajasthan government to mine coal in Para mine.
The said coal mine spread over 841.53 hectares is situated at Surguja in Chhattisgarh. In 2015 the central government had allocated three coal blocks to Rajasthan Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Nigam Limited (RUVNL) situated in Chhattisgarh including Parsa and Kete Extension.
But the mining could be started in only one block and the matter of the remaining two blocks including Parsa remained pending due to the absence of environmental clearance.
On 21 October, the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change gave clearance for mining. On 2 November, the union coal ministry also gave clearance for the mining. Rajasthan was to get 2.7 rake coal on daily basis and 1000 rakes annually to fuel its thermal plants. The mine has a reserve of 150 million tonne coal and can produce for 30 years.
Even if the Rajasthan government was able to secure clearances for mining from the Centre in 15 days, the Chhattisgarh government is sitting over the request of Rajasthan to give go-ahead for the mining.
The proposed block is situated on forest land and there some local tribal leaders who are protesting any mining activity. Now seemingly under the vote bank compulsion, the Baghel government has just become tightlipped despite a desperate appeal form Rajasthan chief minister.
After facing power outage in September and October due to depleted coal stocks, Rajasthan the chief minister Gehlot wrote a letter to Baghle and requested him to clear the roadblocks for the development of both blocks. Gehlot also requested personal intervention of Baghel to help Rajasthan.
Gehlot urged that Parsa coal block (5 million tonne per annum production capacity) and Kente Extension (9 million tonne per annum production capacity) will solve the problem of Rajasthan.
Rajasthan has thermal units in district Suratgarh with 2160 MW capacity, Kota (1240MW), Chhabra (1320MW), Kalisindh (1200MW), Giral 250MW (Barmer), 270.50MW plant in Jaisalmer.
