CCEA okays grant of fresh coal linkages to thermal power plants

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved grant of fresh coal linkages to thermal power plants of central and state sectors and for independent power producers, a release from the Prime Minister’s office said on Wednesday.

It said two windows have been proposed under the Revised SHAKTI policy that includes Coal Linkage to Central Gencos and States at Notified price as per Window–I and Coal Linkage to all Gencos at a Premium above Notified price as per Window–II.

Advertisement

The release further said that the existing mechanism for grant of coal linkage to Central Sector Thermal Power Projects including Joint Ventures and their subsidiary will continue.

With the introduction of SHAKTI Policy, 2017, there was a paradigm shift of the coal allocation mechanism from a nomination-based regime to a more transparent way of allocation of coal linkages through an auction and tariff-based bidding.

SHAKTI Policy was further amended in 2023 earmarking various Paras for allocation of a coal linkage to the various categories of Power Plants, subject to meeting the eligibility criteria.

Also, the Union Cabinet, that followed the CCEA meeting, approved the upgradation of the National Scheme for Industrial Training Institute and setting up of five National Centres of Excellence for Skilling as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.

“The Scheme aims to position existing ITIs as government-owned, industry-managed aspirational institutes of skills, in collaboration with State Governments and industry,” the release said asserting that “the scheme will focus on ensuring alignment between local workforce supply and industry demand, thereby facilitating industries, including MSMEs, in accessing employment-ready workers.”

The Union Cabinet also approved the expansion of academic and infrastructure capacity of five Indian Institutes of Technology established in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirupati, Chhattisgarh’s Bhilai, Jammu and Kashmir’s Jammu, Karnataka’s Dharwad and Kerala’s Palakkad.

The expansion that will facilitate more than 6500 students to study in these premier Institutes will incur a total cost of Rs 11,828.79 crore over a period of four years from 2025-26 to 2028-29.

In a related decision the Union Cabinet also approved creation of 130 faculty posts at the level of Professor in these IlTs.