Stock Sufficient: Coal India Says Production Hiked By 27% In April, Ready To Move To Power Plants Immediately

The coal stock at good shed sidings, washery sidings and port is about 4.7 MT and it is ready to be moved to power plants immediately, coal ministry said.

New Delhi: India is facing a severe shortage of coal as the shortage of it could leave thermal power plants without fuel. Supplies across the majority of coal-fired thermal power plants in India have dwindled to just days worth of stock. However, Coal India Limited has reported an increase of 27.2 per cent in its output in April 2022, as compared to the year-ago period, the Ministry of Coal on Friday. The despatch of coal also improved by 5.8 per cent year-on-year in April 2022. “Coal production by Coal India Ltd (CIL) has increased by 27.2 per cent in April 2022 as compared to the same period of last year and coal despatch has increased by 5.8 per cent,” the Ministry said in a statement.

Sufficient coal stock available, says govt

The ministry also informed that CIL has a coal stock of 56.7 MT at present. While the stock at Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is at 4.3 MT, captive coal blocks have about 2.3 MT of stock. “Thus, sufficient coal stock with coal companies is available,” it added.

The coal stock at good shed sidings, washery sidings and port is about 4.7 MT and it is ready to be moved to power plants immediately, the statement said.

Besides, around 2 MT of coal stock is also available at the CIL sidings. The Indian Railways is fully geared to move this stock to power generation companies across the country. “CIL has offered 5.75 MT coal to the state/central gencos and 5.3 MT of this coal has been agreed to be booked by the gencos,” it said.

Several states report power cuts

Amid reports of a dip in coal stocks with thermal plants, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has said that the country’s thermal plants hold about 22 million tonnes of coal which is enough for 10 days and replenishment will be done continuously. Jharkhand, Haryana, Bihar, Punjab, and Maharashtra are among the states seeing power outages.

Delhi has also written to the Centre over the possibility of power cuts to important establishments. The states and UTs are also taking steps to deal with the situation. Meanwhile, Indian Railways has decided to cancel 657 train trips to speed up the movement of coal rakes to power plants. As many as 509 mail/express train trips/services and 148 MEMU train services have been cancelled.

AAP’s Raghav Chadha hits out at centre on coal shortage

AAP spokesman Raghav Chadha on Friday lambasted the Centre over the issue of coal shortage. He said that over 16 states including Punjab have only one or two days of coal supply and asked the centre to “fulfil its responsibility.”

Speaking to ANI, Chadha said, “Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann went to meet Union Coal Minister in Delhi a few days ago. The latter assured of no coal shortage. Still, more than 16 states including Punjab, are seeing only 1-2 days of coal supply left. Centre has to fulfil its responsibility.”

India’s power demand reached an all-time high

On Friday, the power demand of India reached an all-time high of 207.111 GW even as power plants had low stock, limiting electricity generation across the country. The government in a statement earlier said that the rising power demand reflects the economic growth in the country.

“The demand is expected to reach about 215-220 GW in months of May-June. The Government and other stakeholders are working together to ensure unhindered power supply and efforts at all fronts are being made and measures are being taken for better utilisation of various resources,” the government had said.