Bhushan Power & Steel may lose coal block over delay

Bhubaneswar : Coal ministry warning follows a show cause notice issued on September 23 last year. The Union coal ministry has threatened to de-allocate the coal block allotted to Bhusan Power and Steel Ltd (BPSL) for inordinate delay by the company to develop the block. The block is located at Jamkhani in Sundergarh district of Orissa.

The ministry’s warning follows a show cause notice issued to the company on September 23 last year to explain the delay. The review committee of the ministry noted the reasons given by the steel company in response is not convincing. Accordingly, the ministry, in a letter on June 29, has directed the company to develop the block immediately. Any further failure in this regard would lead to necessary action as per the terms and conditions of the allocation including de-allocation, it warned. The Jamkhani coal block was allocated to the allocatee under Section 3(3) (a) (iii) of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act-1973 vide letter no- 47011/1(13)/2001-CPAM/CA dated November 12, 2003 for supply of coal to meet the requirement of 2.6 mtpa (million tonne per annum) of coal for the company’s 0.68 mpa sponge iron plant and 135 Mw (mega watt) CPP.