Amid coal crisis being faced y many states in India, the government on Tuesday said it will ramp up per day coal production from 1.94 million tonnes to 2 million tonnes per day in next 5 days. According to news agency ANI, government sources told the Centre is fulfilling all the demands required by the states.
Several states including Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, Assam, and Madhya Pradesh are reporting severe stress in their power situation in wake of fuel shortages at coal-based plants while an unprecedented increase is seen in demand due to the post-pandemic rapid recovery in economic activities.
The shortage of coal -- which makes up around 70 per cent of India's electricity mix -- has forced rotational power cuts in states from Rajasthan to Kerala.
The govt said, "coal stocks have started increasing in the last four days." Adding that the situation will be normal within a month it said the govt said there is no shortage in daily power and coal supply.
"No supply of coal was ever stopped to any state despite huge dues," it added, the government said further adding states have to pay nearly Rs 20,000 crores as dues to Coal India.
About two-thirds of the coal-fired power plants had stockpiles of a week or less but the coal ministry said, "any fear of disruption in the power supply is entirely misplaced." States have been forced to buy power from exchanges at high rates to meet demand.
The statement of the Central government comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi today reviewed the coal supply and power generation scenario as the government looks at ways to defuse the energy crisis being faced by several states.
The government may allow power plants facing fuel shortages to blend upto 10 per cent imported coal and run their plants at optimal capacity to prevent any outages.
As part of the exercise to prevent power plants from reducing their supply due amid rising demand, the government, as per reports, has decided to allow coal-based plants to import fuel and blend it upto 10 per cent of the total requirement.
The government is also looking at getting the renewable energy sector to ramp up production to meet the unexpected rise in demand.
But the situation on coal-based power stations remains serious with about 115 out of 135 plants with just three to four days of coal stocks.
(With agency inputs)
