According to him, coal is obtained from open cast mining which contaminates and degrades the quality of coal but power sector has never really asked for washed coal and therefore, Coal India alone is not responsible for the poor quality of the dry fuel.
Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview
Q: CCI has slapped CIL with a penalty of Rs 1,773 crore. It believes that CIL is in violation of the Companies Act as far as two specific fuel supply agreements (FSAs) are concerned. This may force CIL to review its FSAs in general. What is your first reaction to this and do you believe CIL is likely to appeal or should appeal?
A: I would agree to the extent that quality of coal has always been an issue. We have not yet found a holistic solution to the problem but for that, CIL alone is not to be blamed.
In a situation where most of the coal is coming from open cast mining, where you are doing drilling, exploration and blasting, there is always a possibility of contamination and quality degradation. So, the basic answer to the solution is to go for large scale washing of coal and that is what Coal India should have done.
Washed coal has never been seriously demanded by the power sector. To that extent, the power sector is also partially responsible to allow continuation of supply of coal from the mines straight away without washing.
Q: May be the power sector didn't really have a choice which is why the CCI believes that this is abuse of dominant position?
A: I would not question CCI's judgement. CCI must have looked at it from a holistic basis. Washing of coal is the final answer to the solution and neither has power sector demanded washed coal seriously nor has Coal India gone in for large scale washing.
To that extent, to find a wholistic solution to the quality issue what should have been done has not been done.
Q: What is this likely to mean as far as FSAs are concerned because the competition regulator has also said that you need to review FSAs both for the private sector as well as the public sector? What kind of larger implications will this order have?
A: Since I have not seen the order and neither I have discussed the matter with the current management of CIL, I don't know what view they will take, whether there is a permission for appealing whatever it is I do not know.
However, one thing is for sure that quality has been an issue, I cannot ignore that, it has been an issue all the time and the fundamental solution to the problem of going for large scale washing has neither been insisted upon by the consumer nor done by the producer and that is the basic problem.
Q: CCI order also seems to suggest that there is discrimination between the manner in which PSUs are treated and private companies are treated the power producing companies. Is this perception correct and what can the company do to address the issue?
A: The law of the land does not allow any PSU to differentially treat among its consumers whether it is public sector or private sector. That is not done and that should not happen. If the FSAs are biased towards PSUs, it is not the right thing to happen. I don't remember any clause of the PSU to the best of my knowledge or information which is biased towards other government sector and biased against private sector.
The basic issue is joint sampling and analysis. The right for asking for joint sampling and analysis is with the consumer of certain size irrespective of whether it is a PSU or a non-PSU.
So, I am not really clear as which provision the CCI is referring to where discrimination exists, but if there is a discrimination that should be sorted out.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Large scale coal washing final solution to CIL's worry: Pro
Dengan url
https://citraasa.blogspot.com/2013/12/large-scale-coal-washing-final-solution.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Large scale coal washing final solution to CIL's worry: Pro
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Large scale coal washing final solution to CIL's worry: Pro
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar