Jindal Power Ltd (JPL), a subsidiary of Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, has sought a no-objection certificate from the Coal Ministry for the proposed expansion of its thermal power plant in Chhattisgarh at an estimated cost of Rs 13,410 crore.

“Jindal Power has approached the Coal Ministry for a no-objection certificate for expanding the capacity of its existing plant at Tamnar in Chhattisgarh, as the project is situated over a coal-bearing area having reserves of about 50 million tonnes (MT),” a source said.

Almost a year ago, the Coal Ministry had written to the Chief Ministers of all states, stating that no infrastructure should be allowed on coal-bearing land.

All coal-bearing land across the country belongs to the Ministry of Coal, the source said, adding that advice has also been sought on the matter from Central Mines Planning and Design Institute Ltd, a leading consultant in resource exploration and development.

The existing capacity of the company’s power plant at Tamnar in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh is 1,000 MW, which the company plans to scale up by 2,400 MW to 3,400 MW.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in June last year wrote a letter to JPL stating that it had received a complaint that the power firm had begun the construction work on the proposed 2,400-MW power plant without obtaining prior environmental clearance.

The Ministry also stated that in order to verify the facts, a team was sent to the site for inspection. The inspection report submitted to the MoEF following the visit to the project site stated that Jindal Power had started the construction of a 4x600-MW power plant in an area of 62 hectares, where the existing 4x250-MW power plant was set up.

The company has already placed orders on BHEL for supply, erection and commissioning of a 4x600-MW boiler turbine generation package. The existing 1,000-MW power plant was set up with four 250-MW turbine generators, which were also supplied by BHEL.

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