Bhubaneswar: Odisha Congress working president Naba Kishore Das Sunday demanded that the Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd.(MCL) should supply the required coal to the state based industries on priority basis.
Das said that the MCL is producing about 144 million tonnes of coal per annum (mtpa) . However, it supplies only 40 mtpa coal to the Odisha-based power plants and industries against the total requirement of 76 mtpa. The power plants of NTPC, GMR, JITPL get 30 mtpa against their requirement of about 36 mtpa. Similarly, Vedanta, Hindalco, Nalco, Tata Steel, Rourkela Steel Plant, Jindal Steel & Power, Jindal Stainless Ltd., Bhusan Steels, cement industries are getting 10 mtpa against their requirement of 40 mtpa .
The MCL has reported a record production of 144 million tonne of coal in 2017-18. Out of this while Talcher mines produced 82 million tonnes, Ib mining in Jharsuguda produced 48.5 million tonnes. The Kulda and Basundhara mines in Sundergarh district have produced 13.5 million tonnes.
Stating that the MCL is transporting about 100 million tonne of coal every year to other states of the country overlooking the demands of the state industries. Out of the total coal produced the demand of the state is 57% but the state is getting only 27.77% of it. He demanded that the MCL should supply coal to other states only after meeting the demand of the state industries.
