Coal Crisis: Ministry Assures Of Increasing Supply To Power Industries In 3 Days

Bhubaneswar: With the thermal power plants in the country, including Odisha, facing acute shortage of coal reserve, the Ministry of Power has set up a core management team to monitor the situation.

The core committee has been asked to closely monitor and manage coal stock on daily basis. It has also been tasked to ensure follow-up actions with Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Indian Railways to improve the coal supply to power plants, the Ministry said in a tweet.

The Ministry of Coal and CIL also made a series of tweets on the day on the steps being taken to resolve the acute coal crisis which threatens to paralyse not only the power plants but also railway network and national economy which is on revival path after two waves of COVID pandemic.

The ministry assured that they were making best efforts to increase dispatch to power sector to 1.6 MT per day in next 3 days and touch 1.7 MT. It is likely to help in gradual build up of coal stocks at power plants in near future, it added.

On the cause of the present crisis, the ministry said, “Unprecedented increase in electricity demand due to revival of economy, heavy rains in coal mine areas in September, affecting coal production & rise in imported coal prices resulting in dependence on domestic coal are reasons behind depletion of coal stocks at power plants.”

Earlier in the day, the Power Ministry admitted to the problem and said as on October 3, the average stock of coal in power plants was for about four days.

The situation sounds ominous for industries in Odisha which accounts for around 25% of coal production in the country. Stating that over 65% of the coal produced in the state was exported to other states, the Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) had appealed to chief minister Naveen Patnaik to take up the matter with the Centre and raise coal supply to local industries.

Also Read: Dark Days Ahead! Odisha Power Plants May Trip On Coal Crunch