NEW DELHI, Dec 23: A Parliamentary panel has said that not even a single coal washery of the proposed 20 to be built with an investment of Rs 2,500 crore has come up so far and wants Coal India (CIL) to work on “war footing” for their early commissioning.
“Not even a single washery has been commissioned so far as most of them are under various stages of tendering process…The Committee, therefore, would like CIL to work on war footing for early commissioning of coal washeries,” Standing Committee on Coal and Steel said in its latest report.
Coal quality is enhanced by coal washing and the plant where coal washing is carried out is called coal washery.
The 20 washeries—seven coking coal and 13 non-coking coal — with the capacity of 111.10 million tonnes were proposed to be set during the Eleventh Five Year Plan which ended in March 2012, the panel said.
Of these 20 washeries, 18 were to be under build-operate-maintain model and two under turn-key scheme.
In view of the delays, the panel desired that CIL prepare an action plan to expedite the work of commissioning of washeries.
“Early commissioning of the proposed coal washeries is necessary to derive benefits by Coal India to supply clean coal to consumers,” the panel said.
The committee said it observed that washeries were not set up despite the Ministry of Environment and Forests restricting the use of coal containing more 34 per cent ash content in power stations located 1,000 km away from pit heads. (PTI)
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