New Delhi, Oct 30 (IANS) The coal ministry will consider the Punjab government's plea for dedicated and more coal for the upcoming thermal plants at Goindwal Sahib, Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo in the state.
Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal conveyed this to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at a meeting here Tuesday.
As the coal block allocated in Tokisud area of Jharkhand for the Goindwal power plant, being set up by GVK Power, is yet to get local forestry clearance, Badal requested for temporary coal linkages or alternative arrangements of coal supply.
The thermal plant is scheduled to be made operational May next year.
The chief minister also asked for more coal for the Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo power plants owing to the increase in their plant capacity.
Badal urged Jaiswal to direct his ministry to provide the project temporary allocation of 1.4 million tonnes of coal from Coal India mines for one year from February 2013 to January 2014.
Punjab is among the northern states facing power shortage. It was one of several states that was overdrawing from the regional power grid at the time of the country's worst power outage in early August this year.
Badal said that early commissioning of the project would ease pressure on the already heavily-loaded northern regional power grid, said a state government spokesman in Chandigarh.
Badal also met union Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and informed him that all three thermal power projects were likely to be completed in time but were facing uncertainty due to coal allocation.
Scindia promised Badal that he would take up the issue with the coal minister for an early resolution.
