PANJIM: A day after the Supreme Court cancelled 214 leases/coal block allocations, including Goa’s coal block, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said that the decision would not have any impact on the State’s power generation. Goa was expected to get upto 450 MW of power – 270 MW initially – from the coal block.
Parrikar, while terming the Supreme Court judgment as a “fantastic decision,” also expressed the view that the Central Government can have a different view as far as leases owned by the State governments are concerned.
“As far as some leases owned by the States such as Goa are concerned, Union government may enact a law which could say that leases do not require to follow the legal procedure. This is a small amendment to the law. The Supreme Court has granted six months time to take action. Let the Centre decide on it,” Parrikar said, adding that leases owned by three State governments have been affected by the SC order.
The Chief Minister, however, ruled out that the cancellation of leases would be a setback for power generation in the State. “The power generating unit is already set up in Chhatisgarh and is supplying electricity to Goa. If you give indigenous coal (the coal mined from the lease) to it then you can get cheaper power. But if you don’t give indigenous coal then the other option is to buy power generated from imported coal. Here the rate can increase by 70 paisa,” he said.
Parrikar was speaking to media persons at the sidelines of the launch of ‘Make in India’ campaign, where he hailed the Central Government’s move to approach Apex Court pleading finality to the issue.
Earlier speaking to media, Parrikar said that the decision will set aside the policy paralysis faced by the Central government for over a decade.
“The policy paralysis faced by Central government for the last eight to 10 years has been set aside by the SC judgment on the coal blocks. First time it has happened that the Central government has approached the SC asking the court to give finality to the issue,” he claimed.
“The decision-making process always requires finality to any pending issue. Now it is up to the Union government how to revive the leases and what is the amount to be fixed,” he said.
The coal block was allotted to Goa by the Centre on November 12, 2008. After the Supreme Court order, the State through the Goa Industrial Development Corporation will not be able to supply coal to its PPP partner, KSK Mahanadi Power Company for its 1,800 MW capacity power plant.
According to the agreement, Goa will get 270 MW or 15% per annum from the power generation with an option of another 180 MW or 10% of the generation, while the Chattisgarh government will get 37.5 MW, since the coal block is located there. The total availability of power from the block would
be 450 MW.
