Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma told FE that his government has roped in Neepco and a private sector company, DS Group, to set up thermal power plants to generate a total of 740mw by 2012. “Negotiations were going on with other private sector players to generate another 220mw by 2012,” Sangma said. But a Neepco official said that the Union power ministry has directed the company to hold back any memorandum of understanding with the state government since it couldn’t do anything to ensure steady coal supply to the power producer.
In Meghalaya, coal mining is not governed by the Coal Mining (Conservation and Development) Act , 1974 and any individual owning coal-bearing land can extract coal and sell it to the market. There is not even a system of leasing out coal blocks to the private parties by the government, and so there is no systematic mining at all in the state.
N Chakraborty, Neepco’s executive director, said the company and the government has in-principle agreed to set up a 550 mw power plant in the state and a draft MoU has already been prepared in this respect. The draft MoU, he said, is lying with the Union power ministry. “ Only after the ministry gives us a go-ahead signal, we will be able to sign the MoU with the state,” Chakraborty said.
Officials said that the company agreed to set up a power plant at Narengri in East Garo of Meghalaya at the wake of the government’s decision last year to institutionalise coal mining in the state. The plan was to bring coal from the neighbouring mines of south and east Garo and the mines there, as promised by the then power minister (now chief minister) would go under the control of Coal India Ltd (CIL).
Meghalaya’s coal reserves are among the finest quality in the country with low ash content and high calorific value, though presence of sulphur in it is very high. Coal found in the region is primarily of sub-bituminous variety and has very good coking content with ash below 7-8%.
Sangma earlier said since the government was making efforts...