Coal testing still an issue between NTPC and CIL

KOLKATA: The government’s efforts to resolve the stand-off over the quality of coal supplied by Coal India to NTPC appears to have failed to break the logjam due to a difference of opinion between the two state-owned firms over the mechanism of joint testing.

As a result, Coal India’s subsidiary Eastern Coalfields continues to supply just half of the coal that it is meant to provide and NTPC is paying on the basis of the energy content that it finds in the coal reaching its thermal power stations at Farakka and Kahalgaon.

“Although samples are still being collected, these are being stacked up in a room where they will remain locked until both companies reach an agreement on the process of analysing the samples,” a senior official told ET.

Eastern Coalfields’ dues from NTPC are rising, said the official, who did not wish to be named, adding, “If this continues for long, ECL is likely to fall miserably short of its supply targets. This will also delay the company’s turnaround plans and it will be faced with increased financial problems because it has been a sick company.”

The company’s dues stand at Rs 925 crore, down from Rs 1,010 crore on April 1 after NTPC paid ECL Rs 150 crore following the ministry’s intervention. The chairmen of NTPC and Coal India had refused to sign the document of results of the joint sampling on April 14.

While ECL resumed supplies to NTPC from April 5, after a gap of four days, it halved the quantity, resulting in a massive capacity underutilistion at NTPC’s plants.