The Congress on Monday said the Centre’s insistence on blending at least 10 per cent imported coal with domestic coal was a unique “Friend Benefit Model” to help the Adani group.
“The three-step Friend Benefit Model is simple — Step 1: Ask all coal-based power generators to import at least 10 per cent of their coal requirement for blending purposes. Step 2: Award Rs 4,035 crore contract to Adani Enterprise Limited to import 2.416 million tonnes at Rs 16,700 per tonne. Step 3: Power plants will buy this imported coal nearly at Rs 20,000 per tonne,” Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said.
Contending that power costs will rise both for domestic and industrial consumption as imported coal is seven to 10 times costlier — coal is available at Rs 1,700 to Rs 2,000 a tonne in India — Vallabh said: “What an arrangement Sir ji! You are forcing states and power companies to buy coal imported by the Adani group. This is how you institutionalise favour to the friend.”
