With the lockdown extended till May 3, the worries of over 100 hard coke factories have increased.

Facing financial losses with zero production coupled with wage cost, hard coke factory owners have decided to approach the state and central governments to revive their units when lockdown ends.

Hard coke factories under the banner of Industries and Commerce Association (ICA) have planned to write to both the central and state governments, Coal India and its subsidiary Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), demanding the fuel supply agreement with Coal India be revived.

The agreement, in place till June 2019, saw hard coke factories getting 75 per cent of their coal needs under a notified price.

The ICA is also planning to demand fixed electricity connection charges for industries during the lockdown be waived. Industrial units are closed and power is not consumed, they said.

Hard coke industrial units in Dhanbad have been in a quandary ever since the fuel supply agreement was scrapped and they had to buy the coal through e-auction that is a relatively costly affair.

B.N. Singh, president of the ICA, told The Telegraph on Tuesday that they would write to the Centre on bringing back the fuel supply agreement and take up their demand for exemption of fixed electricity charges in the letter to chief minister Hemant Soren.

Hard coke factory owners benefited from two successive fuel supply agreements from 2008 to 2013 and then to 2018, extended till June 2019. Under the agreement, 75 per cent of total annual coal needs of the hard coke industry of 36 lakh tonne came at notified prices and the rest through e-auction. Then, Coal India discontinued coal supply to hard coke factories at notified prices.

This caused a sharp spike in coal cost, including from Rs 6,000 per tonne to around Rs 7,500.

“If the agreement comes back, it will help us and also solve BCCL’s problem of clearing huge coal stock from its dumping sites. Without industrial demand during lockdown, huge stocks of coal have piled up in collieries creating the risk of fire,” said Singh.

He added that they would ask the BCCL to supply coal through letter of credit issued by banks in this hour of financial crisis and not compel industries to cough up advance payments.

“The exemption of fixed power charges will also give us some relief,” he added.