Locals lend support to opening Parsa coal block in Chhattisgarh

Presently, 4340 MW power plants of RVUN are linked with this coal block only, Gehlot wrote to Gandhi in a letter dated February 10.Currently, Rajasthan is largely dependent on state-owned Coal India Ltd CIL for imported fuel to generate electricity.

Locals in Chhattisgarh have lent their support to the start of coal mining in the Parsa block that will help generate electricity for Rajasthan, sources said.

A few hundred locals of six project-affected villages on Tuesday made a request to the government of Chhattisgarh to start Parsa Block at the earliest, they said.

Power generation units in Rajasthan have an allocation of coal from mines in Chhattisgarh but delays in state-level clearances have stalled most of them.

Rajasthan's state utility is producing 15 million tonnes of coal from PEKB Block in the district and waiting for the Chhattisgarh government's nod for an additional 5 million tonnes of coal from Parsa Block.

The Centre had allocated three Chhattisgarh-based coal blocks to Rajasthan to fire its 4,300 MW of power generation capacity.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has also requested Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and his party colleague Bhupesh Baghel to facilitate a public hearing for the third Kente Extension Block with an annual production capacity of 9 million tonnes at the earliest.

Chhattisgarh is the country's largest coal-producing state. The Rajasthan government is keen on making most of its captive blocks at a time when coal prices and electricity tariffs in the spot market are hovering at an all-time high. Rajasthan will go for assembly elections next year and the power shortage may adversely affect the image of the ruling Congress party which is witnessing turbulence in the state.

Sources said the delegation of the villagers appraised the district collector of Surguja that they had given away their land in 2019 for coal mining with the hope that they will get employment opportunities once Parsa is developed. However, they are forced to spend the compensation money and betting their future on account of delayed mining projects.

In the past few months, Gehlot made multiple attempts to operationalise Rajasthan's coal blocks in Chhattisgarh. He reached out to the BJP led Central government and also sought intervention from Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi.

''I would like to draw your kind attention towards the shortage of coal for state-owned power generation companies in Rajasthan. Ministry of Coal, Government of India allotted PEKB Coal Block in Surguja, Chhattisgarh for supply of coal to Rajasthan Vidyut Utpadan Nigam for power generation. Presently, 4340 MW power plants of RVUN are linked with this coal block only,'' Gehlot wrote to Gandhi in a letter dated February 10.

Currently, Rajasthan is largely dependent on state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) for imported fuel to generate electricity. Disruption in coal supplies from CIL coupled with a spike in imported coal prices had prompted RVUNL to secure fuel from its captive blocks.

Rajasthan has about 28,400 MW of installed electricity generation capacity.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)