Karnataka to bypass transparency act to hasten coal procurement

Bengaluru, Oct 25: In the wake of acute shortage of coal, the state government has decided to procure coal bypassing the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) Act, Energy Minister D K Shivakumar said on Tuesday.

The state government will invoke Section 4 of the KTPP Act to bypass the tender procedure for coal procurement from the Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL), a subsidiary of the Coal India Ltd (CIL). This, he said, will avoid delay of two to three months, and ensure immediate lifting and transportation of coal to Karnataka.

Shivakumar told reporters that the present coal availability would meet only half a day’s requirement of the thermal power generating stations of the state. One of the main factors for the crisis was the shortage in supply of coal by WCL to Karnataka. The company had supplied only 43% of state’s coal demand between April and October, he added.

Another reason for the crisis was the cancellation of six coal blocks in Maharashtra following the Supreme Court ‘coal scam’ verdict. Karnataka has been unable to lift coal from these blocks for the last 30 months, owing to the lawsuits filed in the apex court. The KPCL has also paid a penalty of Rs 447 crore to the Ministry of Coal and sought reallotment of the coal blocks.

Incidentally, the state BJP had recently accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar of causing a loss to the exchequer by paying the penalty.

Dismissing the charges as baseless, Shivakumar said that the state had incurred losses of Rs 1,500 crore in the last 30 months, for being unable to lift coal from these blocks.

Shivakumar said that following Karnataka’s appeal, the Ministry of Power had intervened and directed WCL to supply 3 lakh MT of coal immediately. However, Karnataka has to bear the responsibility of transporting the coal -- hence the exemption under the Act.