Consumers' Page

1. Request for allowing temporary change in mode of coal supply from Road to Rail for the willing consumers of CIL due to resurgence of COVID-19 cases:

Transportation of coal by Road mode have been severely affected since Match’21 as Transport vehicles, truck drivers, helpers and workforce required for loading and unloading of coal are hardly available to execute the operations due to the resurgence of pandemic and pocketed lockdowns imposed by different state governments.

Request has been made to CIL to allow temporary change of supply mode for coal transportation from Road to Rail for the willing consumers (both FSAs and e- Auctions) for their Monthly Scheduled Quantity from April to September 2021.

2. Request for providing extension of timeline for lifting of coal and date of payment for deposition of coal value under various RDOs:

Coal transportation through Road mode has become extremely difficult since the upsurge in Covid-19 infections, as transporters and operators and coal handling workers are getting infected in large numbers causing lower turnout of vehicles and scarce workforce.

Request has been made to CIL to extend the lifting period and payment of coal value for the RDOs ending in April & May’21 till June end (30.06.2021) for both Power and NRS consumers against FSA and eAuction quantities.

Considering the situation, CIL has provided extension in lifting period and date of payment deposition of coal value till 15th June 2021 so far.

3. Submission for refunding of Evacuation Facility Charges (EFC) in case of despatches through rapid loading arrangements:

It has been pointed out consumers that they have to remit Evacuation Facility Charges at the standard rate of Rs. 50 per tonne along with the coal value while receiving despatches from SECL's Junadih sidings through Silo loading, which is a form of rapid loading. However, as per CIL notification dated 19th December 2017, Evacuation Facility Charges (EFC) are not applicable for coal despatches through rapid loading arrangements.

Request has been made to SECL to ensure that the amount remitted by consumers in terms of EFC may kindly be refunded at the earliest in case of despatches through rapid loading arrangements..

4. Submission for early issuance of long-pending credit notes and coal value reconciliation for Road- mode consumers of SECL:

Delay in reconciliation of excess coal value against quantity despatched through Road mode by SECL is causing a large amount of fund of the consumers to be stuck for a long period. Also, a significant number of credit notes are due to be issued by SECL despite rigorous follow-ups by the consumers.

Request has been made to SECL to take necessary action for timely issuance of pending credit notes and reconciliation of coal bills pertaining to despatch through Road mode at the earliest possible.

Issues faced exclusively by Power sector consumers:

5. Request for reassessment of mines at Salanpur and Mugma areas of ECL due to consistent and significant grade slippage:

The issue of grade slippage from various sidings of ECL has been occurring since a long time. In spite of certain improvement in the quality of coal supplied from ECL during February-March’21, the issue of significant grade variation again started occurring in coal supplied from various collieries of Salanpur and Mugma areas of the Subsidiary to the tune of 4 to 8 grades during March-April’21, which has led to enormous financial loss for the consumers.

Request has been made to ECL and CIL to ensure supply of FSA grade of coal those collieries of ECL. Also, the coal controller is requested to conduct reassessment of ECL mines in Salanpur and Mugma area which may help in determining the actual grades of coal in those areas.

6. Submission by Power Sector consumers regarding huge grade slippage in coal supplied from specific ECL sidings:

Despite temporary improvement in the quality of coal supplied to the Power Utilities from various ECL sidings during February-March’21, the issue of significant grade slippage started reoccurring in the rakes supplied from ECL’s Salanpur and Mugma sidings where grade variation to the tune of 4-6 grades could be observed. This led to massive financial loss to the Power sector consumers.

Representations were given to ECL, CIL and the Ministry of coal so that measures could be taken to ensure supply of requisite grade as per FSA to the customers of ECL.

ECL said that a detailed enquiry has been conducted into the matter and necessary action has been taken on those responsible. Also, measures like Quality Awareness Fortnight 1.0 and 2.0, regular area visits and strict vigil on third party sampling have been implemented in order to mitigate the reoccurrence of grade slippage.

7. Submission by Power Sector Consumers of Raigarh area regarding allocation of coal under the dispensation of SHAKTI Policy, Para B (viii) (A) short term from nearby sources:

Power Utilities having their plants in the vicinity of Raigarh area in Chhattisgarh have stated that they have been offered coal in the previous tranches of SHAKTI (B) (viii) from far off mines (100-150 kms away by Road) from the Power generating plants.

CIL’s decision to offer coal under Shakti (B) (viii) has helped the power plants but increased the price of coal due to increased transport cost.

Request has been made to CIL so that the cluster of Power plants present near Raigarh area could be provided coal from nearby sources by the Subsidiaries such as Baroud OC, Chaal OC and Bijari OCP of SECL and Kulda and Garjanbahal OCP of MCL.

8. Request for not calculating compensation towards short-lifting for deemed delivered quantity against carry forward rakes of Power Utilities:

In spite of the provision of carry forward the lapsed rakes which could not be supplied to the Power sector consumers due to production issue/Railway constraints, Utilities procuring coal from SECL stated that due to continued demand-supply mismatch and Railway constraints including unavailability of rakes, backlog of carry forward rakes have continued to ac-

cumulate. Thus, the consumers are not getting the quantities allotted to them for long while the advance coal value submitted by them is stuck with the coal company for an indefinite period which leads to significant financial loss.

Request has been made to SECL and CIL to ensure that the carry forward rakes may be supplied to the concerned consumers on time so that their requirement of coal could be fulfilled and financial loss may be minimized. The carry forward rakes which are not supplied to the generators because of production issue / Railway constraints are not taken in the calculation of compensation for short-lifting against deemed delivered quantity.

Issues faced exclusively by Non power sector:

9. Submission regarding invoking of general Force Majeure allowing cancellation of rakes by NRS consumers during COVID period:

Due to huge pendency of rakes in the Non-lapsable category, NRS consumers procuring coal from various Subsidiaries of CIL have not been receiving rakes which were pending since FY 2019-20 in spite of high demand at their end. However, during the lockdown period, those long-pending rakes were being allotted to the NRS consumers in large numbers as demand in the Power sector waned down.

Many NRS consumers were forced to cancel the rakes as their plants were either shut down or running at low capacity during the lockdown period. As a result they were heavily penalized by certain Subsidiaries for non/short-lifting. Even rakes cancelled in April, May & June, 2020 (lockdown period) have been considered while calculating this penalty for the FY 2019-20 as these rakes were scheduled to be supplied within FY 2019-20, which could not be done within stipulated time.

Requests have been made to MoC and CIL so that,

z Subsidiaries may be allowed to invoke general Force Majeure for waiver of performance related obligations during national lock down period i.e. 24th March to 31st May, 2020.

z Subsidiaries may allow waiver of all forms of penalties imposed on the consumers for Non- performance during the Pandemic-induced lockdown period. z Termination of FSAs may not be imposed for rakes being cancelled during the national lockdown.

10. Submission by NRS consumers regarding deferment of rakes from NCL through Dhanbad Division of East Central Railways:

NRS consumers procuring coal from Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) through Dhanbad division of East Central Railways are not in a position to receive the rakes allotted to them as coal handling workers are hardly available at the plant ends. Therefore, they have requested the Railways to defer the rakes till the pandemic situation improves. However, Railways have suggested them to cancel the rakes as per norms.

Request has been made to CIL and NCL to consider taking the matter with the Railways like the previous year so that deferment of rakes may be allowed to those consumers, who are unable to receive rakes until the condition improves..

Issue related to Railways:

11. Request for considering Actual Tare Weight instead of current practise of Stencilled Tare Weight of Rakes:

In case of weighment of older wagons, actual tare weight may be more than the stencilled weight because of repairing, weathering, deposition of coal dust and extraneous material etc. which add to the weight of the wagons.

Since for calculation of net weight of coal the designed tare weight is considered in the RR, this tare difference leads to significant over-charging of freight as well as coal value for quantity of coal not delivered to the buyers.

Request has been made to the Railway Board to consider actual tare weight of the empty wagons measured in the real time basis for calculating the quantity of coal loaded in wagons and provide bidirectional weighment facilities in the weighbridges by modifying or replacing the old ones.

Also, the tare weight of the empty wagons in the inmotion weighbridges should be measured during the time of their placement so that time taken for the tare weight does not affect the free loading time.