| Lok Sabha |
National Co-operative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF), a multi state cooperative society, was allocated coal, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, with the objective of distributing coal to small and tiny consumers who do not have linkage or sponsorship and find it difficult to approach directly coal companies to meet their requirements of coal.
Order for allocation of coal to NCCF was issued in December 2004, for a quantity of 2 million tonnes per annum. However, the actual quantity of coal lifted by NCCF is as under:-
| Year | Quantity despatched by CIL |
| 2004-05 | 0.89 lakh tonnes |
| 2005-06 | 4.30 lakh tonnes |
| 2006-07 | 1.49 lakh tonnes |
| 2007-08 (Upto July,2007) | 0.31 lakh tonnes |
NCCF is being supplied coal at 120% of the notified price. NCCF has been advised to distribute coal to small and tiny consumers across the country at a price not exceeding 5% over and above the base price charged by the coal companies. Transportation charges and duties/levies shall be extra.
Complaints were received alleging irregularities in sale of coal by NCCF. Chief Vigilance Officer, CIL was instructed to investigate those complaints. In his report, he suggested certain measures to improve the distribution network system of NCCF. Based on his report, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution was requested to take follow up action. Further, as reported by Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, a case pertaining to alleged diversion of coal is being investigated by CBI(ACB), Kolkata.
CIL has been directed to strictly monitor supply of coal to prevent any misuse of coal. Coal India Limited has put in place a “Watchdog mechanism” to ensure that there are no irregularities in sale of coal by NCCF. This arrangement has been made to enable tiny consumers to access coal and the objective is being achieved to the extent of coal so far supplied by the NCCF to the intended consumers.
This information was given by Dr. Dasari Narayana Rao, Minister of State for Coal in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
RCJ/ls