Power minister of Rajasthan Dr. Jitendra Singh met Union Ministers

Arrangements for the allocation of coal should be made for thermal power plants of Rajasthan: Dr. Jitendra Singh

Jaipur, July3. The Power Minister of Rajasthan Dr. Jitendra Singh has requested to the central government to make arrangements for the allocation of 'Coal blocks' for six super critical thermal power plants to be set up in the state. He said that these 'Coal blocks' should be allocated in the area of Korba Mines, Chhattisgarh which is close to the state.

Dr. Jitndra Singh requested to Shri Sriprakash Jaiswal, the union state minister for coal to fulfill the requirement of coal in various power plants of the state, on Friday at Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi.

He also met Shri Jairam Ramesh, the union states minister for Environment and Forest at his 'Paryavaran Bhawan' office and urged to give environment related permission for the Chhabra Power Plant of the state.

While meeting the union state minister for coal Dr. Jitendra Singh said that state government has taken decision to set up the super critical thermal power plants in Chhabra, Suratgarh and Banswara. First two (Four Units)of these will be in the state sector and the third (Two Units)will be in private sector awarded through competitive bidding as per Government of India guidelines for which the process has already started.

With the commencement of the production of electricity in these power plants will become self-dependent in near future. He said that chief minister Shri Ashok Gehlot is giving top priority to the power sector.

Dr. Singh requested the union state minister to support in making Rajasthan self - dependent in the area of power and to fulfill the sufficient requirement of coal in the state. He asked to provide 90 percent of coal instead of present 50 percent from the Koraba Mines of Chhattisgarh to the states. In the same way such arrangements should be made so that minimum 15 days 'Coal stock' is kept reserved for the states. Recently, the stock of the coal available in Kota thermal power station is only for three days and if the immediate requirement of coal is not arranged then it will become very difficult to continue this power house.

Dr. Singh said that we require 60 lakh metric tones Coal for Kota Thermal Power Station, 66 lakh metric tones for Suratgarh Plant and 25 metric tones for Chhabra Plant.

He said that Rajasthan has two coal based thermal power station at
Kota (1240 MW) and Suratgarh (1500 MW) under state sector and are being operated by Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpandan Nigam Limited (RVUN). These power stations are getting supply of coal from south eastern coal fields and northern coal fields, which are situated at very long distance from these power stations. These power stations are contributing 50% of the power requirement of the state.

Dr. Singh said that along with these power plants Rajasthan recently sanctioned the more power plants. In such situation large amount of coal will be required urgently.

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