POWER STATIONS RUNNING BELOW CAPACITY BECAUSE OF LACK OF COAL SUPPLY
Across India, thermal power stations are running below capacity because they cannot get enough coal, and factories are running on expensive diesel generators because they cannot get enough power.
But here, at one of India’s largest mines, millions of tonnes of coal are stockpiled because they cannot be transported quickly to the nearest rail yard. Plans to expand production have been put on hold because a branch line to the mine, already three years behind schedule, is still less than half-built. And the sorry state of India’s railway network is only part of the story.
At a time when the country’s energy needs are growing at a staggering pace, India depends heavily on coal, drawing on the fifth-largest reserves in the world. But mining has consistently fallen below target, imports are rising fast, and the problems in the largely state-run industry may have even more far-reaching implications.
“It is essentially a combination of misgovernance, apathy and neglect of the entire sector,” Ashok Sreenivas of the Prayas Energy Group, a non-profit think tank, commented on the industry and its troubles. “It has been allowed to deteriorate out of the public eye.” The problems at the Basundhara mine in eastern India offers an example of the difficulties that threaten to undermine the nation’s economic ambitions and its plans to create tens of millions of jobs for its growing young workforce through rapid industrialisation.
At the mine, 1,400 trucks a day, choke the road that mends its way from the site through forests and villages to the rail yard, belching diesel fumes and coating plants in black dust. But even that is not nearly enough. Animesh Nandan Sahay, chairman of a subsidiary of the state-run Coal India, said the absence of a railway line stands in the way of a plan to “quickly ramp up’’ production at Basundhara to 80 million tonnes a year, from fewer than 12 million now.
It is a situation that is unimaginable in neighbouring China, where coal production has been aggressively expanded during the past two decades to feed the maw of industry, and farmers, the environment and safety standards have been brushed aside in pursuit of economic growth.
Here in India, the world’s largest democracy, decision-making is less simple. Coal India has been tied down by a snarly regulations and political populism, as well as by concerns about the environment and the rights of displaced farmers. The ministries of environment and coal square off more like adversaries than partners, while the ministry of power is its own independent fiefdom.
The railway network is so inadequate that even power stations that depend on expensive imported coal cannot get it delivered, and plans to build a dedicated national freight network are years behind schedule. But the biggest challenge, according to the chairman of Coal India, S. Narsing Rao, is getting villagers to agree to give up land that needs to be acquired for mining, something he says has become “significantly more complex” during the past five years.
CIL to miss supply growth target in absence of rail links
State-run miner Coal India may miss its entire supply growth target planned over the next decade due to the absence of critical railway links, a senior official informed.
The official, who did not wish to be named, said Coal India was likely to fall short of its target for the 12th Five-Year Plan by at least 120-130 million tonne and by at least another 100 million tonne in the 13th Five-Year Plan. That's almost the entire growth planned by the miner, which supplies about 80% of India's coal, over the next two consecutive plan periods.
"CIL's expansion projects are ready, but in the absence of railway links, the coal produced cannot be sold. CIL is to spend the money and has already paid its initial sums, but the railway projects are far behind schedule. They are not expected to come up during this five-year plan period or the next," the official said.
Three major railway projects, which were to add about 300 million tonne of additional supply capacity from new mining projects, are running way behind schedule, the official added.
A senior Railway Board official confirmed on the condition of anonymity that the projects were delayed because environmental clearances were yet to be received. "We are committed to readying these projects as soon as possible, but we are facing delay due to environmental clearances. Our officials are ready with the project work, but the delays in environment clearances are leading to time and cost overruns. Indian Railways will start working on the projects as soon as the clearances come."
The projects include an 81-km Tori-Shivpur-Kathotia railway line in Bihar. It is expected to handle 80 million tonne of coal every year. Though ground work on this project started in 2000, it is nowhere near completion even 12 years down the line. This track was envisaged to evacuate coal from Coal India's new mining projects in North Karanpura.
"CIL is in a fix. We cannot increase production from these mines because the coal produced will have to be stacked up in the absence of bulk transport. Stacked coal has the tendency to catch fire, leading to loss," the Coal India official said, adding that the estimated cost of the project had already shot up to 1,000 crore from the original 621 crore. CIL had paid about 150 crore to the Railways for the project, he added.
The second project involves a 52-km track of Gopalpur to Monoharpur in Talcher and IB Coalfileds. This project, envisaged in 2009, was to handle about 180 million tonne coal and be completed by 2017 at a cost of 470 crore, including a railway siding construction. The third project, involving a 450-km stretch in Mand-Raigarh Coalfields in Chhattisgarh, will have an east corridor of 180 km, a north corridor of 77 km and an east-west corridor of 122 km. Originally expected to come up towards the beginning of the 13th Five-Year Plan, it was to handle 40 million tonne, the official said.
Across India, thermal power stations are running below capacity because they cannot get enough coal, and factories are running on expensive diesel generators because they cannot get enough power.
But here, at one of India’s largest mines, millions of tonnes of coal are stockpiled because they cannot be transported quickly to the nearest rail yard. Plans to expand production have been put on hold because a branch line to the mine, already three years behind schedule, is still less than half-built. And the sorry state of India’s railway network is only part of the story.
At a time when the country’s energy needs are growing at a staggering pace, India depends heavily on coal, drawing on the fifth-largest reserves in the world. But mining has consistently fallen below target, imports are rising fast, and the problems in the largely state-run industry may have even more far-reaching implications.
“It is essentially a combination of misgovernance, apathy and neglect of the entire sector,” Ashok Sreenivas of the Prayas Energy Group, a non-profit think tank, commented on the industry and its troubles. “It has been allowed to deteriorate out of the public eye.” The problems at the Basundhara mine in eastern India offers an example of the difficulties that threaten to undermine the nation’s economic ambitions and its plans to create tens of millions of jobs for its growing young workforce through rapid industrialisation.
At the mine, 1,400 trucks a day, choke the road that mends its way from the site through forests and villages to the rail yard, belching diesel fumes and coating plants in black dust. But even that is not nearly enough. Animesh Nandan Sahay, chairman of a subsidiary of the state-run Coal India, said the absence of a railway line stands in the way of a plan to “quickly ramp up’’ production at Basundhara to 80 million tonnes a year, from fewer than 12 million now.
It is a situation that is unimaginable in neighbouring China, where coal production has been aggressively expanded during the past two decades to feed the maw of industry, and farmers, the environment and safety standards have been brushed aside in pursuit of economic growth.
Here in India, the world’s largest democracy, decision-making is less simple. Coal India has been tied down by a snarly regulations and political populism, as well as by concerns about the environment and the rights of displaced farmers. The ministries of environment and coal square off more like adversaries than partners, while the ministry of power is its own independent fiefdom.
The railway network is so inadequate that even power stations that depend on expensive imported coal cannot get it delivered, and plans to build a dedicated national freight network are years behind schedule. But the biggest challenge, according to the chairman of Coal India, S. Narsing Rao, is getting villagers to agree to give up land that needs to be acquired for mining, something he says has become “significantly more complex” during the past five years.
CIL to miss supply growth target in absence of rail links
State-run miner Coal India may miss its entire supply growth target planned over the next decade due to the absence of critical railway links, a senior official informed.
The official, who did not wish to be named, said Coal India was likely to fall short of its target for the 12th Five-Year Plan by at least 120-130 million tonne and by at least another 100 million tonne in the 13th Five-Year Plan. That's almost the entire growth planned by the miner, which supplies about 80% of India's coal, over the next two consecutive plan periods.
"CIL's expansion projects are ready, but in the absence of railway links, the coal produced cannot be sold. CIL is to spend the money and has already paid its initial sums, but the railway projects are far behind schedule. They are not expected to come up during this five-year plan period or the next," the official said.
Three major railway projects, which were to add about 300 million tonne of additional supply capacity from new mining projects, are running way behind schedule, the official added.
A senior Railway Board official confirmed on the condition of anonymity that the projects were delayed because environmental clearances were yet to be received. "We are committed to readying these projects as soon as possible, but we are facing delay due to environmental clearances. Our officials are ready with the project work, but the delays in environment clearances are leading to time and cost overruns. Indian Railways will start working on the projects as soon as the clearances come."
The projects include an 81-km Tori-Shivpur-Kathotia railway line in Bihar. It is expected to handle 80 million tonne of coal every year. Though ground work on this project started in 2000, it is nowhere near completion even 12 years down the line. This track was envisaged to evacuate coal from Coal India's new mining projects in North Karanpura.
"CIL is in a fix. We cannot increase production from these mines because the coal produced will have to be stacked up in the absence of bulk transport. Stacked coal has the tendency to catch fire, leading to loss," the Coal India official said, adding that the estimated cost of the project had already shot up to 1,000 crore from the original 621 crore. CIL had paid about 150 crore to the Railways for the project, he added.
The second project involves a 52-km track of Gopalpur to Monoharpur in Talcher and IB Coalfileds. This project, envisaged in 2009, was to handle about 180 million tonne coal and be completed by 2017 at a cost of 470 crore, including a railway siding construction. The third project, involving a 450-km stretch in Mand-Raigarh Coalfields in Chhattisgarh, will have an east corridor of 180 km, a north corridor of 77 km and an east-west corridor of 122 km. Originally expected to come up towards the beginning of the 13th Five-Year Plan, it was to handle 40 million tonne, the official said.
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