Expressing concern over the mounting dues of coal mining PSUs, a Parliamentary standing committee has directed the Coal Ministry to vigorously pursue the outstanding dues of ₹26,480.59 crore as of January 2022 from industries including power generating companies, fertiliser and cement industries.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Coal, Mines and Steel, while reviewing the Demand for Grants of the Coal Ministry for FY23, also examined the outstanding dues of Coal India (CIL), Singareni Collieries Company (SCCL) and NLC India (NLCIL).
The panel pointed out that a huge amount of dues are outstanding from the States and other utilities and, as a result, the outstanding dues of CIL, SCCL and NLCIL as on January 31, 2022, stood at ₹15,097.01 crore, ₹5,620.35 crore and ₹5,763.23 crore, respectively.
“While appreciating the initiative taken by the Ministry and coal/ lignite PSUs, the committee desires that the matter should be taken more vigorously to recover the outstanding amount, particularly from consumers like power generating units, cement and fertiliser industries, etc. The committee desires to be apprised of the recoveries made in due course,” it added.
On outstanding dues, the Coal Ministry officials, who appeared before the committee in February this year, said, “Coal sales dues are continuously monitored by CIL and its subsidiaries and regular follow-up is done with consumers for early recovery. CIL has developed an online bill-to-bill reconciliation portal through which online reconciliation will be carried out and dues will be monitored and realised in a better way.”
CIL and coal companies are also ensuring bilateral meetings to settle commercial disputes and CIL has instructed coal companies that matters where commercial disputes cannot be settled bilaterally may be referred to Administrative Mechanism for Resolution of CPSE Disputes (AMRCD). Accordingly, CIL and its subsidiaries have already filed claims with AMRCD pertaining to different power plants and boards, ministry officials informed the panel.
Besides, letters have been sent from Secretary (Coal) to Secretary (Power) and Chief Secretaries of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu for liquidation of outstanding dues. Letters have also been sent from the Minister (Coal) to the Minister (Energy) of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan for liquidation of dues, the officials said.
Besides, Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) also provides for levy of interest on delayed payment and coal companies are claiming interest on delayed payment from consumers.
The average cost of production of coal in CIL and its subsidiary companies is ₹1,310.88 per tonne. Private coal companies are not mandated to share information on production cost of coal from their mines.