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DVC surrenders Bengal coal block over 'delay' in land acquisition

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Kolkata, Aug 10 (PTI) Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has pulled itself out of the proposed Khagra-Joydev coal block project in West Bengal as it was not able to acquire required land for the same, an official said on Wednesday.

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The power utility has surrendered the block to the Centre, he said.

Around 4,100 acre of land was required for the project at Dubrajpur in Birbhum district and of which, 3,500 acre was supposed to be acquired directly from the villagers, the official said.

"But DVC failed to make any progress in this regard even though the land price was revised to Rs 35 lakh per acre.

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"We did not have any alternative option but to surrender the block. A window for surrender of non-operational blocks was offered by the Centre and it came to an end on August 9. Repeated letters to the West Bengal government for active support in land acquisition failed to evoke a positive outcome. There was no land acquisition," a senior official privy to the development told PTI.

A query sent to a top state government official remained unanswered.

The Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal is against any forcible land acquisition, and the state is also facing protests over land acquisition for its mega mining project--Deocha Pachami coal block, also in Birbhum.

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"The Union government had issued us several show cause notices for not being able to make any progress for the mine offered to us since 2015. We could have faced a fine in future if we had not opted for the window to surrender the block. It was executed last week," the official said.

The block was offered to DVC for captive mining for two thermal power plants, Mejia units--7 and 8 of 500 MW each.

It was supposed to have a peak annual output of 3 million tonne per annum.

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"A special purpose vehicle was created, and mine developer cum operator (MDO) was also appointed. DVC had only 600 acre of government land in possession but could not find any proactive role from the state authorities for the direct acquisition of the proposed 3,500 acre of land from some 5,000 odd villagers," the official alleged.

DVC had revised its offer to Rs 35 lakh per acre and an annuity of Rs 5,000 per month for 25 years in lieu of jobs, he claimed.

"But, the resettlement and rehabilitation package was never settled in absence of an active role from the state government. The price revised from Rs 14 lakh offered earlier," the official claimed.

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The captive coal project would have helped the central public sector undertaking reduce the cost of coal, as it is currently buying the dry fuel from Coal India and the shortage is being managed by imports.

With the surrender of the Bengal block, DVC has Tubed Coal Block in Jharkhand.

"Everything is ready and we are just waiting for the environmental clearance to operationalise the Tubed block, which is expected within a week. The peak production will be six million tonne of coal. The project is spread over 1,136 acre of land and of which, private land was 531 acre. All land parcels are in possession," the official added. PTI BSM KK BDC BDC

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