Sanjay Kumar Singh, National Secretary General, INTUC and President, Chattishgarh INTUC has asked the government to take cognizance of the matter and take appropriate measures to supply sufficient coal to industries based in coal producing states like Chhatisgarh.
In the wake of developing coal crisis in Chhattisgarh due to SECL’s (South Eastern Coal Fields Limited), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), decision to supply coal outside the state, Sanjay Kumar Singh, National Secretary General, INTUC and President, Chattishgarh INTUC has asked the government to take cognizance of the matter and take appropriate measures to supply sufficient coal to industries based in coal producing states like Chhatisgarh.
Mr Singh has requested the PM in a letter to take requisite measures as the lack of coal supply to Captive Power Plants can lead to closure of several industrial units, creating a situation of wide scale unemployment thus leading to a massive social unrest in different states.
Mr Singh mentions in the letter that the coal produced by SECL is supplied to the industries of Chhattisgarh as well as to the ones established outside the state. Since the course of past one year, SECL is consistently declining the share of coal supplied to the industries situated in Chhattisgarh and has eventually increased the share of coal supply outside the state. This has given rise to existential crisis for several CPP based industrial units in the state.
Chhattisgarh constitutes around 18 per cent of the national coal reserves which means that 56 billion tonne coal is present in the state. More than 250 industrial units in Chhattisgarh are dependent on Captive Power Plants for their smooth business operations and require around 32 million tonne of coal annually which is around 19 per cent of total production of SECL. Presently CIL is unable to fulfill the coal requirements of CPP based industries in different states of Chattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Jharkhand despite producing sufficient coal annually.
Mr. Singh on behalf of INTUC has demanded the fulfillment of coal demands of industrial units in Chhattisgarh and other states on a priority basis by making appropriate arrangements of supply via both roadways and railways. He has also asked CIL to make necessary arrangements for coal supply to Non Power Sector at the earliest.
Along with this, Mr Singh has criticized the policies of the Central Government to supply coal to neighbouring countries of Nepal and Bhutan in the wake of severe coal crisis in the country. He also said that the country is producing sufficient amount of coal but due to wrong allocation policies of government a situation of loss of employment can arise in the near future.
Mr. Singh has warned the officials of massive agitation if the present scenario continues and said that the INTUC will block the coal traffic in different states for which the CIL administration will be solely responsible.
Source : ANI
