Coal min has asked power ministry to shift the 765 kV line to allow exploration
A single transmission line crisscrossing Orissa and Chhattisgarh is now turning into a high-voltage headache for at least six coal blocks coming up in the eastern region coal belt. The line ? a 765 kV double-circuit line from Jharsuguda in Orissa to Dharamjaygarh in Chhattisgarh ? threatens to render coal mining projects promoted by Maha Tamil Collieries (a joint venture mining firm floated by Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra), Monnet Ispat, Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation and Jindal Power, partially inaccessible for the exploration and production of coal.
On behalf of Maha Tamil Collieries, the coal ministry has now taken up the issue with the power ministry, asking that state-owned Power Grid Corporation (PGCIL), which is constructing the transmission line, be instructed to shift the double-circuit line so that the coal block allocated to the Tamil Nadu-Maharashtra joint venture ? Gare Palme- Sector II coal block area in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh ? is not rendered inaccessible for the exploration and eventual production of coal.
Construction of superstructures stymie the development of coal bearing areas and make it difficult to launch mining projects at a time when coal shortages are rife, the coal ministry has asserted in its missive to the power ministry. Generally, a 50-metre belt has to be left untouched around a structure such as a road or a transmission tower, if surface mining has to be initiated in the area.
?The Maha Tamil coal block, with a total reserve of 768 million tonne in Chhattisgarh, is directly affected by the power grid (transmission) line. The coal ministry has approached the power ministry to direct PGCIL to shift the line,? a government official involved in the exercise said. The other coal block developers who have been allocated mines along the corridor that the transmission line is taking are also expected to rake up the issue, officials said.
PGCIL’s assertion is that if it were to shift the alignment of the transmission link further north of the current corridor, it will run into a forest section, for which fresh environmental clearance would be required. This could, in turn, delay the line and thereby bottle up electricity from seven upcoming power projects in the region, with a cumulative capacity of around 10,000 mw.
The coal ministry, on behalf of state-owned coal major CIL, is already slugging it out with power utility NTPC over location of the latter’s 1,980 mw North Karanpura power project in Jharkhand. NTPC has been asked by a group of ministers looking into the issue to scale down the size of its land by nearly 40%, in order to ensure that mining operations by CIL face lesser restriction.
