PMO recommends joint mining by NTPC, RPower in Jharkhand

The prime minister's office has recommended that NTPC and Reliance Power should jointly mine adjacent coal blocks in Jharkhand to help them extract about 200 million tonnes of additional coal that would have been lost if the mines were delineated and drilled independently, government and company officials said. The proposal also has the backing of Parliament's standing committee on coal, reports the Economic Times.

NTPC chairman and managing director Arup Roy Choudhury told ET that the company has found merit in the proposal. "It is a good proposal. But we have to examine it closely since we would start production much ahead of them. These evaluations would take some time," he said. As per statutory norms, companies owning different blocks are required to maintain a "safety angle" between the blocks, reducing the amount of coal they can extract. Source: The Economic Times