No shortage of coal for power sector: Goyal

New Delhi: There is no shortage of coal for the power sector as coal-based power generation grew by 5.3 per cent in the April-June quarter, the government said on Wednesday.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said, "There is no shortage of coal for the power sector."

In the beginning of the ongoing fiscal, state-owned Coal India (CIL ) had a pithead stock of 55.55 million tonnes (MT) and the fuel stock at power house end was 16.27 MT. In the first quarter of FY2018-19, CIL dispatched a record quantity of 122.2 MT coal to the power sector, thereby achieving a growth of 15 per cent over the dispatch in the corresponding period last year.

"The growth in dispatch of coal to power sector has helped coal-based generation to achieve positive growth of 5.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2018-19," the minister said.

Late last month, the AAPgovernment had written to Union Power Minister R K Singh that Delhi was staring at a power blackout due to the fast depleting coal stockpiles at power plants in the city and had urged him to take up the issue with the Railways which transports coal to the national capital.