BHUBANESWAR: A two-member expert committee on allocation of coal blocks has advised the State Government to request the Centre for a review of the policy for coal block allotment for captive use. The committee, comprising former CMD of Northern Coalfields Limited BN Mishra and former chief general manager of Coal India NC Mohanty, said the coal block allocation policy of the Centre was not only defective but impossible to implement. Maintaining that Orissa’s interest has been sacrificed, the committee reportedly took objection to allotment of coal blocks to 11 public sector units of other states. The Centre has allocated two major coal blocks - Mahanadi and Machakata - in Angul district having a reserve of about 1,200 million tonnes to some of the PSUs of Maharashtra and Gujarat in 2007. Maharashtra was allocated Chendipada-II coal block, while Gujarat got two blocks at Naini and Baitarani in the same district. While the State has total coal reserves of about 66,000 million tonnes, the Centre has allocated 32 coal blocks to 56 private companies and 16 PSUs including three from the State. The coal reserve in the 32 blocks is estimated at 15,212 million tonnes spread over 325-sq km. The PSUs have been allocated 53 per cent of the total reserves and about 40 per cent of the total allocation was made to PSUs of other states. Orissa has got a raw deal compared to West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, the report said. While the average annual coal production of the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) is about 100 million tonnes, half of the production goes to outside the state which is unjustified, the report said. With a large number of energy-intensive industries coming up in the State, the additional requirement of coal for the State is estimated at 250 million tonnes. The expert committee is believed to have recommend the State Government to make a strong pitch for enhanced allocation of coal by MCL. The Centre has not taken the issues of large-scale pollution, displacement and other socio-economic factors into consideration before allotment of coal blocks, the expert committee said and apprehended that operationalisation of the coal blocks will not be possible. In February, the Chief Minister urged the Centre to review the allocation of coal blocks that involve displacement of more than two lakh people.
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