The government warned Tenughat Vidyut Nigam to begin production from Badam coal block in Jharkhand, as failure to do so could lead to its cancellation.

The coal ministry said that "The allocatee is hereby warned and directed to develop the block immediately. Any further failure in the development of the block would lead to necessary action including deallocation of the coal block.”

The block was allocated to the TVNL in 2003 to meet the coal requirement of its proposed phase-II expansion power project/power plant.

In September 2010, the coal ministry had served notice to TVNL and asked it to explain the reasons for the delay in developing the block. TVNL had in October replied to the show-cause notice. However, the government was not satisfied with the reasons explained by the firm for the delay.

The letter issued to the company said that "The reply was considered by the Review Committee and the reasons given for the delay were not found convincing. Therefore, with the approval of the competent authority, it has been decided to issue warning to Tenughat Vidyut Nigam Limited in respect of Badam coal block.”

Last week, coal ministry had asked five firms, including Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and GVK Power, sitting idle on the coal blocks allocated to them for captive use to either begin production or it would cancel their licenses.

The coal ministry had also said earlier that a panel set up by it to look into the process of deallocation of coal blocks had recommended issuing warnings to 29 coal and three lignite blocks allocatees.

It also suggested cancellation of 14 coal blocks and one lignite block awarded to six PSUs, including NTPC and three private firms for failing to develop mines on time. Government cancelled coal blocks for various firms NTPC, Damodar Valley Corp and Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Ltd.

(Sourced from PTI)