Govt gives gencos time till Friday to begin process for coal imports

if blending with domestic coal is not started by June 15, then the domestic allocation of the concerned defaulter's thermal power plants will be further reduced by 5 per cent, the ministry had said in a letter to state governments and power generation companies (gencos) (Representative Image)

Domestic power producers have time till Friday to place orders for import of coal, failing which they will be allocated only 70 per cent of their requirement by the government, according to an official notification.

On May 18, the Ministry of Power had warned that if orders for coal imports are not placed by May 31, 2022 and the imported fuel does not start arriving at power plants by June 15, the defaulter gencos will have to increase their imports to the extent of 15 per cent.

Further, if blending with domestic coal is not started by June 15, then the domestic allocation of the concerned defaulter's thermal power plants will be further reduced by 5 per cent, the ministry had said in a letter to state governments and power generation companies (gencos), including independent power producers (IPPs).

According to the latest notification dated June 1, "Those GENCOS/IPPs who either do not place their indents with CIL by 3.6.2022 or have not initiated their tender processes for purchase of imported coal for blending purposes, they will be allocated only 70 percent of the quantity of domestic coal...(which) will be further reduced to 60 per cent from 15.6.2022."

The amount of coal which will be saved as part of this action against defaulters will be allocated to those gencos/IPPs which have already commenced blending. Meanwhile, the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) termed the government's move as "putting undue pressure on the states."

The coal crisis is not the fault of the state power generating houses and the Centre must bear the additional cost of coal imports as it has put undue pressure on states to import the dry fuel for blending purpose, the body said in a statement. AIPEF Chairman Shailendra Dubey said, "This is clearly an inappropriate response being extended to import coal which is not justified. We appeal to Chief Ministers of all states to strongly oppose this order of the Ministry of Power to import coal."

He further said many states including Uttar Pradesh decided not to go for import of coal. Other states not going for imported coal are Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Haryana and Kerala.