NTPC’s second coal mining project in Hazaribag to start operations soon

Ranchi: At a time when coal shortage and crisis of fuel to fire thermal power stations was making headlines, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Jharkhand was busy clearing decks for operationalising its second captive coal mine in Hazaribag.
It awarded the Mine Developer-cum-Operator (MDO) contract for Chatti-Bariatu coal mine — second in Hazaribag to M/s Rithwik-AMR consortium on October 2 and held its first meeting with the service providers at the NTPC headquarters in Ranchi on Wednesday to kick start the project.
Prior to Chatti Bariatu, NTPC has been mining coal from Punkri-Burwadih coal mines with M/s Thriveni Earthmovers and Sainik Mining as the MDO in the same region to feed its thermal power plants across the country. The Punkri-Burwadih mines has an annual capacity of around 15 million metric tonnes. An official release from the thermal power major stated that the new mine of 7 million metric tone annual capacity would augment their coal producing capacity. The Chatti-Bariatu coal mine was re-allocated to the NTPC in 2015 but it was lying unused all these years. The coal from this mine would be used to feed NTPC’s plant in Barh in Bihar.
“During the meeting with MDO, activities to be taken up and the timelines were discussed. NTPC stressed upon the start of coal production from Chatti -Bariatu mine in FY 2021-22 so that NTPC can augment coal supply to the power stations which will ensure uninterrupted power supply to its customers,” an official communique issued by the NTPC read.
The thermal power officials expressed confidence that the villagers, local administration and the state government would extend cooperation in beginning the mining activity. While land acquisition process is in advance stage, the NTPC management is hopeful of completing the remaining formalities soon.
“It was because of the cooperation of the villagers and support provided by the local administration under guidance of the state government that coal dispatch from Banadag railway siding area could resume from October 10, earlier this month which was otherwise disrupted due to local protests,” an official of the NTPC said.
NTPC has four mines in Hazaribag. After Chatti Baraitu becoming operational they would still have Keredari and Badam projects in which the process of land acquisition is underway. The supply of coal from NTPC captive coal mining projects is crucial for its power stations for maintaining uninterrupted generation and supply of power.