New Delhi: The Ministry of Coal has cancelled the allotment of Jharkhand's Jitpur coal mine to Adani Power because of the latter's failure to operationalise it. In an order published on Monday, the ministry said, "…it has been decided to terminate the CMPDA of Jitpur coal mine on account of APMuL not taking necessary steps as advised by Government of Jharkhand and delay in timely operationalisation of Jitpur coal mine. Through the order, the ministry has given a notice to Adani Power, which will expire on October 8. And that is when the termination order will take effect officially
"CMPDA shall stand terminated wef 08.10.2021 and the Performance Security and all other payments made by the Allottee shall stand appropriated and the Allottee shall not be entitled to any benefit under CMPDA but would continue to be liable towards any antecedent liability, all obligations accrued before the effective date of the surrender / termination and also for the obligations that must be fulfilled after termination," said the order. This means that the bank guarantee furnished by Adani Power will be forfeited.
In its representations before the Ministry of Coal, the Jharkhand state government contended that Adani Power was probably not taking interest in the operationalisation of the Jitpur coal mine because coal transportation from the mine to its Mundra power plant would not have been economically viable. The state government also said that forest clearance of 36 hectares of land had been pending since two years due to lack of interest on the part of Adani Power (Mundra) Ltd.
The Jitpur coal mine had been allocated to Adani Power in March 2015 for captive use for its Mundra power plant. Adani Power had submitted a closing bid of Rs 302 per tonne.
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