No dearth of coal to feed power plants, says Piyush Goyal

There is an ample amount of coal for every thermal power plant in the country in view of record production by Coal India Limited (CIL), Power Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday. "There has been a historical increase in the production of coal by Coal India Limited, of 32 million tonnes, due to which there is no dearth of coal in any of the power plants anywhere in the country," Goyal told reporters after a meeting with UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

"There could be one or two power plants where availability of coal is for some 25 to 20 days or less but no plant is shut down because of shortage of coal... it is available in adequate amount. "I was telling the CM that CIL production in the first 65 days (since April 1) has shown a growth of 12 per cent and this is historic. "In UP, power plants have overall stock of 26 to 28 days and all have the capacity to increase it if required," Goyal said, seeking to allay apprehensions of acute electricity shortage in the state. Goyal, who arrived here from Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said both the central and UP government will together work to resolve the power problem in the state.

"In Varanasi, LED and street light programmes have been started and yesterday when LED lights were installed at the Assi Ghat it had a great effect and in days to come when all 84 <g data-gr-id="20">ghats</g> will be lighted, it will be lauded by the people there and also those coming there," he said. "We had discussions with the Chief Minister and his team on having schemes so that the Prime Minister's target of 24x7 power supply is also implemented in the state at the earliest and we both will work towards it," he said. He cited schemes like the Deen Dayal <g data-gr-id="23">Upadhaya</g> Gram Jyoti <g data-gr-id="25">Yojna</g> for rural area and Integrated Power Development Scheme for cities.