CAG Report: We have not reaped windfall profit, says NTPC chief

NEW DELHI: State-run NTPC today said it has not reaped any windfall profit from the coal mines allocated during 2004-09, amid uproar in Parliament over a CAG report pegging Rs 10.67 lakh loss to the exchequer on account of coal allocation during that period.

"There is no way by which NTPC can make windfall profit out of the coal produced from these mines as under the CERC regulated regime the cost of coal from these mines will be pass-through in the power tariff...," NTPC Chairman and Managing Director Arup Roy Choudhury said.

"Therefore, it will only help to reduce the ultimate cost of power at the end-user," he noted.

Fuel accounts for about 80 per cent of tariff of power produced from a coal-fired plant.

As media carried reports of the draft CAG report, the Comptroller and Auditor General wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this afternoon, excerpts of which were released by the PMO.

"In the extant case the details being brought out were observations which are under discussion at a very preliminary stage and do not even constitute our pre-final draft and hence are exceedingly misleading," the CAG said in the letter.

Choudhury also said, "We have not seen the details of the CAG report, therefore, we are not able to give any firm comment on this matter".

According to him, the mines were allocated to meet some portion of its coal requirement since Coal India is not able to meet the company's growth rate.

"These mines, which were allocated to NTPC, had to be developed i.e. surveys, soil investigation, environmental clearance, mining plan approval, etc. were to be done by NTPC before any activity could start.