(a)whetherGujarat allocated coal from the South Eastern Coalfields Limited:
(b) the criteria of coal allocation from the Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL):
(c) whether any actions have been taken by the Government to allocate coal from the WCL to Gujarat; and
(d) whether the Government is considering to allocate fuel subsidy to the State of Gujarat to compensate additional financial implications on account of import of additional coal for power generation?
MINISTER OF STATE (I/C) IN THE MINISTRY OF COAL, POWER AND NEW&RENEWABLE ENERGY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a)to(c):Coal based units, including Thermal Power Plants (TPPs) situated in Gujarat are predominantly supplied coal from coalfields of South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) located in the state of Chhattisgarh in Central and East Central India. A small quantity of coal is also supplied from the coalfields of Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) located in Western India in the State of Maharashtra and from Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) located in Eastern India in the State of Orissa.
The decision on source of allocation of coal is taken on the basis of long-term availability of coal in the source, potential for incremental production, transport logistics etc. Accordingly, coal is sourced from various coal subsidiaries including Western Coalfields Ltd. (WCL). Coal available at Western Coalfields Limited is already linked to various power stations and other industries, so much so that even the power stations of Maharashtra are being supplied about 40% of coal from the states of Orissa and Chattisgarh.
To undertake comprehensive rationalisation of sources of coal with a view to optimize transportation cost and materialization under given technical constraints, a new Inter-Ministerial Task Force (IMTF) was constituted on 13.06.2014. This IMTF has submitted its Report. The recommendations inter-alia include partial shifting of linkages of about 1.2 Million Tonnefrom South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) to Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) leading to savings in transportation costs of about Rs. 100 Crore to Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Ltd (GSECL).
(d): No, Madam.