2. Seventy Fifth Annual General Meeting

The Business Session of Seventy Fifth Annual General Meeting was held on Friday, the 18th December 2020 through virtual mode.

The Executive Committee Members congratulated Shri Swapan Maity from WBPDCL for being elected as the new President of the Association and Shri Himanshu Singh from Vedanta Limited on becoming the new Vicepresident of CCAI. In his opening remarks of the meeting, the outgoing President, Mr. Asim Chattopadhyay thanked everyone present for reposing trust in the Association and for attending the AGM as well as the First Executive Committee Meeting of CCAI.

The new President thanked all present for entrusting him with the responsibility and for attending the AGM as well as First Executive Committee meeting of CCAI.

Esteemed member companies from both Power and Non-power sectors, senior officials from Coal India Ltd. and its Subsidiary coal companies like ECL, CCL, MCL and WCL graced the meeting conducted via Zoom app.

The president appreciated that most of the members have paid their annual subscription in time barring a few and pointed out that some members are providing all round support to the Association. It was noted that the Association is currently going through an unprecedented financial crisis and advice and support was sought from the esteemed member companies for its sustenance.

A number of members present at the meeting expressed their satisfaction with the service of CCAI and proposed to hike the Annual Membership Fee by a minimum of 10% to 20%. The new Vice President, Mr. Himanshu Singh also approved the thought that large companies should be charged for Annual Membership against separate companies under the same group. Members noted that the age old Association should be protected for the long-term benefits of coal consumers across all sectors.

Talking about the enhancement of services and new initiatives by the Association, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Asim Chattopadhyay:

1. One separate team of technocrats with vast experience has been formed to provide technical support at the plants of the member organisations.

2. Another team has been formed by CCAI to provide additional technical support and consultancy related to mining of coal blocks and other minerals etc.

3. CCAI Secretary, Ms. Subhasri Chaudhuri noted that considering the reduced mobility cropped up during the ongoing pandemic the organisation has formed a team of skilled professionals who would look into individual issues of the valued members.

All the services would be offered to our esteemed members in writing by the Association soon.

Pointing out that under the current crisis situation the Membership base of CCAI is shrinking, the Secretary said a drive needs to be taken by the concerned employees and by the help and support of the esteemed members of the Association to increase the Membership base for the organisation to thrive.

Responding to the specific question by Mr. Rajiv Angra from Vardhman Fabrics regarding the earnings of CCAI through Annual Membership Subscription, the Secretary said that the Association has received Rs. 30.68 lac through its Membership Subscription in FY 2019-20. However, Annual Membership worth Rs. 2.71 lac is still outstanding.

While discussing the persisting concerns of the consumers from Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), Mr. Vernon Morais from Haldia Energy Limited stated that the longstanding issue of old and faulty weighbridges at the Subsidiary is causing problems with the weighment and needs to be addressed immediately. He also requested WCL to supply import substitution coal through rakes for the month of December 2020 and onwards.

Mr. Ashok Gupta, GM (S&M), MCL present at the meeting stated that the recalibrations of weighbridges at certain sidings of MCL are to be done by next week. He urged the consumers as well as the Association to also take up the issue of weighbridge with the Railways as it partly comes under their purview. He said to avoid the discrepancy over weighment of rakes Railways should consider the tare weight.

Mr. Kapil Dhagat from JPL & JSPL alongwith some of the other members congratulated MCL for the overall improvement in coal quality supplied from its sidings.

Mr. Rajiv Angra from Vardhman Fabrics stated that their organisation is facing concerns of long-pending refund from WCL even after submission of 'Form C'. He said in some cases the refund is pending for as long as 5 years even after several (numerous) discussions and representation given by the company and requested for immediate action on this issue. He also complained that coal grade slippage in the tune of two to four grades is happening from a number of mines in the subsidiary. Shri Dilip N Ganvir, Manager (M&S), WCL, took note of the issue and said it would be highlighted at the appropriate level.

Mr. Himal Shah of Torrent Power Limited requested Coal India Limited to provide Force Majeure relief to the consumers who could not lift coal during the COVID period (from March- September’20). He also highlighted the issue of penal overloading and underloading and pointed out that the ultimately consumers have to pay the price on both scenarios and puts additional financial burden on them.

Mr. Vikramjit Singh of Rawmet Resources Pvt. Ltd. said rapid loading system and proper inspection of loaded rakes is necessary to avoid such a scenario. He pointed out that the consumers have no role to play in loading of rakes and CIL should be more responsible about the process.

Shri Rajesh Mishra, HoD Operations (Marketing and Sales) of Coal India Limited acknowledged the issue and said overloading of rakes draws penalty as per Railways guidelines and stressed on the need of having a mechanized system for loading of rakes to avoid the issue. He said CIL is planning to have three way silos and Rapid Loading Systems (RLS) in its upcoming projects.

Talking about concerns of consumers procuring coal from SECL, member companies like Vedanta Limited and Vardhman Fabrics pointed out that the subsidiary is not raising coal bills as per the RR weight as the RR weight and weight of coal mentioned in the bill is often different. Mr. Rajbandhu Santosh of Vedanta Limited noted that this issue might occur due to problems with weighbridges as in case of underloading the coal company is depending on stenciled tare weight while the Railway has migrated to the Permissible Carrying Capacity (PCC).

He said supplementary rakes were to be provided in the 3rd month of every quarter but right now that practice has been discontinued. He stressed that a supplementary rake should be offered for the quantity of coal that is lost.

Mr. Sanjib Narayan Lahiri of RP-SG Group talked in detail about the persisting issue of grade slippage in ECL. He said the issue continues to affect the consumers across the board procuring from the coal company as coal quality variation in some of the mines are significantly high.

The issue over pricing of washery grade IV, V and VI coal from BCCL was also raised during the meeting. The members from the Power sector stated that BCCL’s decision to hike the price of those grades makes it unviable as the coal has high ash content and has to be blended with other grades of coal before using it in the Power plants.

Mr. Manoj K Dadhich of Shyam Sel and Power Limited as well and other members expressed overall satisfaction over the functioning of CCL but noted that certain consumers participating in the auction are not getting supply of coal on time as the lifting is getting delayed sometimes. Mr. Hitesh Varma of CCL promised to look into the issue.

It was also requested to CIL that consumers who exited from FSA from WCL due to sudden steep price hike should be allowed to participate in Tranche V auctions. The CIL official present at the meeting promised to look into the request and assured that within one or two months Tranche V auction will be held.

On request, Mr. Vikramjit Singh had given a brief overview on imported coal.

The meeting ended with thanks to the Chair and all present in the VC.

The report of the auditor, M/S. B. P. Jena & Associates, Kolkata had been read in respect to the Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31st March 2020. M/s. B. P. Jena & Associates, Kolkata was appointed as the honorary auditor of the Association for the year 2020-21 at an honorarium of Rs. 3,500/- (Rupees three thousand five hundred only). The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.