State-run Coal India Limited (CIL) is under fire from the power and steel ministries for failing to deliver proper washed coal resulting in severe loss in power generation.

In a recent meeting to review the coal supply position, the navratna company drew criticism, particularly from the power ministry, for supplying oversized coal to its thermal power stations, disrupting their power generation systems. “This is adversely affecting the loss in economic terms,” power ministry officials contended.

Coal supplied from CIL’s subsidiaries — Bharat Coking Coal Limited and Eastern Coalfields Limited — were oversized owing to “lack of supervision and non-enforcement of laid down procedures,” sources said. CIL has now pledged to upgrade its washing capacity to 100 per cent by 2011-12.

Ministry official were also upset with CIL’s report on oversized coal. Officials said the report neither spelt out the strategy to contain the problem nor did it specify any timeframe for their completion, sources said. CIL representatives at the meeting argued that the quantity of oversized coal was small, but officials pointed out it was enough to disrupt thermal power generation and lead to production loss.

The power ministry pulled up the PSU for fixing the annual contracted quantity for Farakka and Kahalgaon thermal power stations at 17 million tonnes (MT), against their requirement of 27 MT, leading to CIL arguing that it could only supply the normative quantity and not the actual quantity. Also, coal production from three of CIL’s mines — Rajmahal, Chuperbitha and Hurra — are grossly inadequate.

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