‘Govt taking action to improve coal supply’

After NTPC warning that power plants are running on very low coal stock of less than two days, the government has been forced to take steps to fix the crisis. In Lok Sabha, power minister Piyush Goyal said ‘corrective’ action is being taken by the government to improve coal supply, including efforts by Coal India Ltd to raise production beyond current year’s targets.

Power utilities have been advised to use imported coal wherever necessary. Environment ministry nod is being sought to mine more coal and resource-rich states of Odisha and Jharkhand have been asked to help transport coal out quickly. ‘We are increasing the (coal) crushing capacity, increasing (the number of) washeries in mining areas. We have also appealed to the environment ministry to allow us to mine additional fuel wherever there are possibilities,’ Goyal said.

While NTPC stated six plants have critical levels of coal stocks, Central Electricity Authority (CEA) said 46 out of 100 electricity generation stations have fuel stock of less than 7 days. NTPC rang the alarm bells when on 14 July it wrote to the power ministry saying six plants with a combined capacity of 16,840 MW or 15 per cent of India’s total energy capacity from coal-fired plants, have stocks of up to two days and cannot weather even a ‘small’ disruption in supplies. ‘With the ensuing monsoon, it will become more difficult to replenish the coal stocks and in case of even a small disruption, the total power generation at these stations will be adversely affected,’ NTPC chairman and MD Arup Roy Choudhury wrote in the letter.