Give list of power plants unable to sign FSAs: CoalMin to CIL

NEW DELHI, Sept 1: With the deadline for signing of FSAs for 78,000 MW having expired last month, the government has asked Coal India (CIL) to soon provide the list of those power plants which are unable to enter into pacts with the PSU firm and the reasons for the same.
The direction to the state-owned firm was given during a review meeting under the chairmanship of Coal Secretary S K Srivastava held on August 30.
“During the meeting, CIL and its subsidiaries were asked to soon send to the Coal Ministry the list of all the power plants which cannot enter into fuel supply agreement (FSAs) with CIL and the reasons behind it,” a source privy to the development said.
The meeting was attended by Coal India Chairman and Managing Director S Narsing Rao and other representatives of the coal ministry, including Joint Secretary Shailesh Kumar Singh, among others.
CIL has to sign 173 FSAs with power companies for a total capacity of 78,000 MW, as directed by the coal ministry.
The CIL board had on August 3 approved signing of FSAs for a capacity of 78,000 MW instead of 60,678 MW earlier, the source added. A capacity of 60,678 MW was the projected requirement for 131 power plants commissioned, or to be commissioned by March, 2015.
CIL has so far signed 122 FSAs, including with NTPC, which had earlier raised quality issues of the dry-fuel supplied to it and had stopped payments to Eastern Coalfields Ltd, a CIL subsidiary. (PTI)