Union Coal secretary to visit Odisha on Tuesday

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Nov 9:

Union Coal secretary Anil Swarup will arive in Odisha on Tuesday to hold a high level meeting with senior officers of the state, including chief secretary G C Pati, sources said.

The Coal secretary is likely to discuss the fate of 28 MOUs signed by the state government for power generation with a projected investment of Rs one lakh crore which are linked to allocation/linkage of coal blocks.

Out of the 32 coal blocks allocated in the state since 1993, allocation of 25 coal blocks were cancelled by the Supreme Court while seven were cancelled by the Centre.

Also likely to come up during Swarups’ meeting with officials is the preference accorded by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), a Coal India subsidiary, to transporters from outside the state.

Union Petroleum and Natural Gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan, accompanied by representatives of local transporters, had met Union Coal minister Piyush Goel on September 4 and had apprised him of the problems faced by local transporters/truckers in Talcher area due to the policy adopted by MCL  authorities, which favoured outsiders at the cost of local transporters leading to resentment in the area. The Coal minister had assured Pradhan his ministry will look into the matter and sort it out.