Amid concerns of blackouts by several states, including Delhi, the central government has said that the acute shortage of coal affecting power plants will be controlled in the next few days. The Center said the shortfall is due to the rise in global coal prices. Due to the shortage of coal in many states of the country, the electricity crisis has deepened. States are left with very little stock of coal. In such a situation, ensuring the supply for coal based thermal power plants is a big challenge. After which the Ministry of Power has come into action.
Several states including Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Tamil Nadu have expressed concern over the blackout. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has warned that the national capital may face a “blackout” in the next two days if the supply of coal to power plants does not improve.
Also Read : BJP MP Manoj Tiwari urges Delhi CM to allow Chhath Puja
Due to acute shortage of coal in thermal power plants, Punjab has already imposed rotational load shedding at many places. News agency Press Trust of India quoted an official of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited as saying that there is coal stock left in the plants for five days.
Union Power Minister RK Singh on Sunday said “unnecessary panic has been created over coal shortage” and it is due to wrong communication between GAIL and Tata. He said that the country has a reserve of four days. The minister said, “We have enough power available. We are supplying electricity to the entire country.Whoever wants, tell me, I will supply them.”
He said that drops are regularly during monsoons as mines are flooded, but demand remains high, especially with a growing economy. In October, as demand subsides, stocks will start rising again. “Earlier, we used to have 17 days’ coal stock from November to June,” he said.
On Saturday, Union Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi had said that due to increase in international price of coal and heavy rains this year the country is recording its shortage. “If you compare with the last several years, the production and dispatch of coal has been the highest in September and especially in October. Things will be fine in the next three to four days,” news agency PTI quoted Joshi as saying.
An inter-ministerial sub-group headed by the Ministry of Coal is monitoring the coal stock position twice a week, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday. The ministry has assured that they are trying to send 1.6 MT of coal per day in the next three days and will try to reach it to 1.7 MT.
