Angul coal corridor hangs fire even after 9 years

Angul, May 1: Angul ‘Coal Corridor’ hangs fire since last 9 years. An integrated railways network that aims to link up coalfields and coal based industries with a unique loop starting from Talcher to Bamur has not been implemented so far. Angul Coal corridor was announced in 2012 with an estimate of Rs 500 crore. It was meant to interconnect the coal bearing areas of Talcher, Chhendipada, Nuagaon, Patrapada, Handapa and Bamur covering a distance of almost 95 km.  Owing to the acute environmental pollution and unavoidable coal traffic along the National Highways 55 and 26 along with some state highways, the Ministry of Coal, Government of India formulated the single window solution to the long run problem. The Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Odisha (IDCO), the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and the Indian Railway Construction Corporation (IRCON) jointly took it up to develop. As per the project, At least 57 major industries including Nalco, Tata Steel, NTPC, JSPL, TTPS, JITPL,Rourkela Steel Plant  along with some small and medium sector undertakings were to be benefitted from it. The corridor was to provide direct linkage from the 14 coal projects of Talcher like Mohanadi, Brahmani, Lingaraj, Kaniha, Hingula, Jagannath and Kalinga collieries to the far and near Coal fed large sectors. 5,000 acres of land was to be acquired for the purpose. Particularly, it was expected to cater 100 Million Tonne of power grade coal per Annum (MTPA) from the Talcher coal blocks only.  At least 10 coal blocks in Talcher area like Chhendipada, Baitarani West, Machhkund, Utkal Coal Blocks, New Patrapada, Nuagaon, Telisahi Radhikapur are to be linked with the rail and the thermal power plants across the country. However, the recent progress reveals that about 25 percent of the project is going to be completed. A few railways over bridges, three new tracks have been completed around Talcher Coalfields. The coal carrying conveyor system is yet to be completed. The modern automated coal loader siphon devices project is under progress. In contrary, manual coal transport is causing life threats for the denizens.