Government cancels coal block linked to Reliance Power's Sasan UMPP.

The government has decided to cancel a coal block attached to the Sasan ultra mega power project of the Anil Ambani group in line with the Supreme Court's directive forbidding commercial use of surplus coal from such units for other plants.

The decision, which also forbids the use of coal from other mines of the 4,000 MW project for other plants, ends the special dispensation given earlier to Reliance Power's Sasan Project that would have helped the company fuel the Rs. 21,000 crore Chitrangi power project.

Top government sources said power, coal and renewable energy minister Piyush approved de-allocation of one of the three mines attached to Sasan recently and also disallowed the use of surplus coal from the remaining mines. Reliance Power had won three of the four ultra mega power projects (UMPP).

It recent pulled out of the Rs 36,000 crore Talaiya project, while the Krishnapatnam project has also not progressed as the cost of imported had risen sharply. 'The government's approach is to strictly abide by the rules for national interest, irrespective of the parties involved in the decision.


ET