The ruling AAP in Punjab on Wednesday slammed the Centre’s decision to ask the state government to procure coal using the rail-ship-rail (RSR) mode as “illogical” and claimed it would put additional financial burden on the power utility.

AAP chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s efforts led to the resumption of the coal supply from the Pachhwara central mine in December last year, after a gap of more than seven years, to provide cheap electricity to people of Punjab.

But with this latest decision, the Punjab government will now have to pay at least three times more for transporting coal, he claimed.

Kang claimed that the BJP was baffled with the working of the Mann government and is adopting different tactics to “hinder” the state’s progress.

The Union Ministry of Power has asked the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited to start lifting 15-20 per cent of its domestic coal requirement through the rail-ship-rail mode.

In a letter to the PSPCL, the ministry stated that the transport of the fossil fuel using the rail-ship-rail (RSR) mode, although costlier than the all rail route, is cheaper than importing coal.

“With a view to reduce the import of coal for blending purposes, the Power Ministry in consultation with the ministries of Coal, Railways and Shipping and the NTPC and CEA examined the issue of transport of domestic coal from the coal mines in the eastern part of the country to the thermal power plants located in the northern and western parts of the country using RSR (Rail-Ship-Rail) mode,” the power ministry said.

“This involves transportation of domestic coal in three legs viz MCL (Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd)/Talcher area to Paradip port via rail route, Paradip Port (East Coast) to Dahej/Mundra Port (West Coast) via ship route and Dahej/Mundra Port to thermal power plants in Northern/ Western India via rail route,” it added.

“It was decided to operationalise the RSR plan from January 2023 onward by NTPC and all the state Gencos having TPPs in Northern and Western part of the country,” the ministry said in a letter to PSPCL.

Central and state gencos were also advised to plan to cover 15-20 per cent of their total domestic coal requirements using the RSR mode, it said.

Read all the Latest India News here

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)