ET reported that Northern Coalfields Ltd has refused to transfer land required to operate the mines attached to the proposed 4,000 MW Sasan ultra mega power project being built by Reliance Power. The Coal India subsidiary has argued that law forbids the transfer of coal bearing area.

Coal from the mines will fuel both the Sasan and 4,000 MW Chitrangi projects in Madhya Pradesh, which will be built with an investment of 36,000 crore. The ambitious projects are a key part of the growth strategy of Reliance Power, which said last month that both Sasan and Chitrangi projects were progressing on schedule.

NCL told the coal ministry last month that it can't abide by the government's directive to transfer the required land to Sasan Power Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Power, because such a move would violate the Coal Bearing Areas Act, 1973.

A Sasan Power spokesperson said that the matter was being resolved under the leadership of the Ministry of Coal and that the Sasan project was on schedule.

An official at Northern Coalfields said the company had been cooperative, but was unable to transfer the land.

A top official NCL said that "We have been co-operating with them in all the meetings held in ministry on this issue but they cannot deviate the existing laws. The government land cannot be transferred. They have their mining plans and they should do it in their area and without overstepping or infringing into our territory. There are huge coal reserves in the area in question.”

A coal ministry official said Sasan Power asked for 483 hectares in excess of that approved in the mining lease and mining plan for Moher and Moher Amlori blocks. This includes about 365 hectares that is notified under the Coal Bearing Area Act and vested with NCL.

A senior government official said that Sasan Power had argued at various coal ministry meetings that the transfer of the land was important for extracting coal from Moher blocks. He said that "Sasan Power has been taking up the matter with us saying any delay in transferring land required for developing infrastructure and over burden dump facilities, will delay commissioning schedule the project from the present January 2013.”

(Sourced from ET)