Rajasthan desires middle’s assist in getting coal from Chhattisgarh

Rajasthan is going through a coal disaster as two out of three mines allotted to the Congress-led state in Chhattisgarh, one other Congress-led state, haven’t began functioning for the reason that allotment in 2015. In latest months, Rajasthan claims to have confronted extreme energy shortages resulting from much less availability of coal for its energy crops. Rajasthan has now approached the Centre to intervene within the matter. Reportedly, Rajasthan has blamed Chhattisgarh for stalling the tasks at two coal blocks that had been allotted to the previous.

It is noteworthy that Rajasthan has been pushing Chhattisgarh’s forest division for clearance for an extended. As each states had been unable to discover a resolution to the issue, Subodh Agarwal, further chief secretary, Rajasthan, wrote to energy and coal secretaries Alok Kumar and Anil Jain. In his letters to the secretaries, he emphasised the necessity for intervention of the Central Govt to pursue the Chhattisgarh authorities to take speedy motion in order that the manufacturing from the mines might begin.

Gehlot’s letter to Baghel to push clearance

In October 2020, Rajasthan’s CM Ashok Gehlot had written to Chhattisgarh’s CM Bhupesh Baghel, wherein he had requested him to hurry up the clearance course of for the mines. He wrote, “I would like to apprise you that the State has invested more than Rs 40,000 crore in thermal power stations installed in the State. These coal blocks fulfil the majority of coal requirements of current as well as upcoming RVUNL power stations and are essential to ensure fuel security in the form of an uninterrupted supply of coal to produce electricity for the state. I have been informed that the ‘PEKB’ coal block has achieved a peak rated capacity of 15 MTPA and partially fulfils the current coal requirement of RVUNL power stations. However, Parsa and Kente Extension Coal blocks are under various stages of development.”

He additional added, “I shall be grateful if you may kindly arrange to direct the concerned State Government officials to expedite the various approvals for early development of ‘Parsa’ and ‘Kente Extension’ coal blocks and continued operation of ‘PEKB’ coal block, enabling RVUNL to meet fuel requirement of the state’s (read Rajasthan) power generating stations and fulfil power requirements of consumers of Rajasthan.”

There are 5 blocks in query which are Parsa, Parsa East, Kanta Basan and Kante Extension. All these are positioned in district Sarguja, Chhattisgarh. Out of those 5, three had been allotted to Rajasthan in 2014. Notably, these blocks come underneath the Hasdeo Arand forest space and have confronted protests by the tribals. Interestingly, the state authorities has elevated the forest cowl from 400 sq. KM reserved for elephants to 2000 sq. KM. A report in Sunday Guardian means that the native tribals have divided into two teams. One is opposing the mines, whereas the opposite has submitted its illustration in favour of the mine improvement within the space.

Agarwal added that although the Centre and Ministry of Forest have given Stage-II clearance on October 21, the Chhattisgarh forest division has not supplied the mandatory permissions to begin the Parsa block. For Kanta East and Kanta Basan mines, the administration has not made the required modification in forest clearance at hand over 1,136 hectares of land as per pointers of the Union Green Ministry. Public hearings wanted for clearance are pending, and Agarwal has sought assist from the Centre to get the District Magistrate of Sarjuguda to carry the required hearings.

Rajasthan claimed it needed to schedule energy cuts in September and October, owing to the coal scarcity. The distribution firm has elevated energy tariffs by 22 paise per unit for 3 months because it needed to supply further coal from the market and energy from the change at the next worth. The peak demand within the state has reached 14,000 MW, and the state is struggling to satisfy the demand.

The protest in opposition to MDO Adani Group

Adani Group, which has been one of many prime targets of “activists”, had gained the mining contracts from Rajasthan, which owns the mines in Chhattisgarh, by aggressive bidding. Adani Group is a mine developer and operator (MDO). That means the corporate shouldn’t be going to mine and promote coal by itself. It is creating the location for Rajasthan.

However, the activists are focusing on MDO, inflicting hassle in getting clearances for the undertaking. It is noteworthy that West Bengal-based PSU Coal India, the biggest coal mining agency on this planet, has an enormous operation in Chhattisgarh. Interestingly, it confronted next-to-none opposition from the activists who’re elevating their voices for the tribal areas and forests. In September 2021, tribals led by activists introduced a 300-KM march in opposition to Adani Group that began on October 2.

Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, in a public assertion, blamed that Congress’s Rahul Gandhi was working with Modi’s Central authorities in opposition to the welfare of the tribals and snatching land from them for the businesses like Adani and Birla. It stated, “The federal and the state government, instead of protecting the rights of us tribal and other traditional forest dwellers, have joined hands with mining companies and have been working towards devastating our forest and land.” They additional demanded the cancellation of all mining tasks within the area.

Is there actually a scarcity of coal?

In reply to RTI submitted by the founding father of Hindu IT Cell, Akshit Singh, Coal India Limited, knowledgeable that there was no scarcity of coal in CIL or for the facility sector. In the yr 2021, CIL supplied further 5.4 million tonnes of coal in comparison with final yr, the place it was round 23 million tonnes. Compared to 2019, CIL supplied 15% extra coal. CIL additional stated that they’d 1.62 crore tonnes of coal accessible in inventory.