Congress MP Manish Tewari slams power ministry over instructing Punjab Govt tio mport coal by rail-ship-rail mode

Tewari reacted after the Ministry of Power instructed the Punjab Government to bring coal from the coal mines in the eastern part of the country to the thermal power plants located in the northern and western parts of the country using RSR (Rail-Ship-Rail) mode.

"Ministry of Power has instructed Punjab Government India.-if you want to bring Coal from Eastern India to Punjab first take it by Sea over Sri Lanka to Dahej/Mundra Ports on West Coast & then by Rail to Punjab. Cost-3 times more than direct Rail.Who owns Dahej/ Mundra ? Adani," Tewari tweeted.

Tewari shared a letter issued by the Ministry of Power which stated, " As you are aware that in the current Financial Year due to a sharp increase in Energy demand and short supply of domestic coal various Central/ State Gencos & IPPs imported coal for blending withdomestic coal in their Thermal Power Plants."

Therefore with a view to reducing the import of coal for blending purposes, the Ministry of Power in consultation with the Ministries of Coal, Railways, Shipping and NTPC & CEA examined the issue of transport of domestic coal from the coal mines in the eastern part of the country to the thermal power plants located in the northern and western part of the country using RSR (Rail- Ship-Rail) mode.

This involves the transportation of domestic coal in three legs viz a). MCL/ Talcher area to Paradip Port via rail route, b). Paradip Port (East Coast) to Dahej / Mundra Port (West Coast) via Ship route and c). Dahej/ Mundra Port to Thermal Power Plants in Northern/ Western India via rail route. On careful analysis it was found that the transport of domestic coal using this RSR mode, though costlier than ARR mode, is cheaper than importing coal.

The matter was further discussed in the meeting dated 16.11.2022, Chaired by Secretary(Power), with Statcs/ Gencos, in which PSPCL also participated, using imported coal for blending. It was decided to operationalize the RSR plan from January 2023 onwards by NTPC and all the State Gencos having TPPs in the Northern & Western parts of the country. Central and State Gencos were also advised to plan to cover 15-20 per cent of their total domestic coal requirements using RSR mode.

Further, it was informed that any slackness in implementing this plan would result in regulation of ARR/RCR rakes by Sub-Group subsequently.

Accordingly, PSPCL is requested to take necessary action to start lifting domestic coal using RSRmode with atleast 1-2 rakes per day from January 2023 onwards. The proposed action plan shall be shared with this Ministry by December 10. (ANI)