Power plants run out of coal, city staring at blackout: Jain

New Delhi: Power Minister Satyendar Jain, in a letter to coal ministry, has said that Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) may face a blackout as power plants in the region do not have reserve coal for "more than one day".

Meanwhile, peak power demand in the national Capital on Friday rose to 5,863 MW and expected to touch 6,079 MW in next few days.

According to the Power Department officials, Delhi's peak power demand in June may breach the 7,000 MW mark. During last summer, the power demand stood at 6,526 MW, highest ever-recorded in the national Capital.

Addressing the media here, Jain slammed Union Coal Minister Piyush Goyal for the shortage and said he had written to Goyal on May 17 but the latter was not responded. "There is no coal in power plants in the NCR. Dadri I, II, Badarpur, Jhajhar (plants), none of them has stock (coal) for more than one day," Jain said. "This is a man-made disaster in making. We always had extra power but today there is no extra power. If any problem arises, there will be a blackout," Jain said.

The Minister said the power plants used to have a reserve coal stock for 14 days. In the letter to Goyal, Jain said, "It has also been learnt that this coal shortage is due to non-availability of transportation rakes/wagons with Indian Railways."

Jain also requested Goyal to issue necessary instructions to resolve the issue and make sure that it was not repeated in the future. "With the rising temperature and increasing power demand, this coal stock position is very alarming and needs immediate attention in order to avoid load shedding or any major grid incidence," the letter said.

"As you are aware that the peak demand of power has started and during season, Delhi experiences very high power demand, this year the peak demand power is expected to touch 7,000 MW," Jain said in the letter.

According to the report, Dadri Thermal Power Stations is facing coal shortages and no stock of coals, which have been at least for 15 days reserved. The Coal Ministry also said there may be an increased demand for coal due on account of peak summer.