Amid reports that inadequate coal supply has hit the
generation capacity of power plants, the government on Thursday said
there was no crisis of the fossil fuel at power stations, assuring that
no station would be shut down due to coal shortage.
“There
is no shortage of coal for power firms. I can guarantee that no power
station will be shut due to coal shortage. There is no shortage at
existing power stations,” Coal Minister Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal told
reporters outside Parliament.
In October, inadequate
supply of coal to the power stations had resulted in acute power cuts in
major parts of the country.
The government swung
into action and asked coal companies, including major producer Coal
India, to step up supply to stations facing shortage of the dry fuel to
ensure that the power generation remains uninterrupted.
Dispatch of coal to firms had received a setback in August
and September due to heavy rains in all the coalfields, adversely
affecting production and transportation of coal from mines to railway
sidings.
Mr Jaiswal had said the government would
make efforts to provide more coal to state-run NTPC, many of whose
plants are running below capacity levels due to coal shortage.
The Coal Ministry had also announced that it would allocate
additional quantity of coal to power sector from the e-auction quota to
ease the “crisis”.
E-auction is a process whereby
coal is sold at spot market price. Around 10 per cent of the total coal
produced by the state-run Coal India is sold through e-auction.
Meanwhile, Coal India Chairman Mr N C Jha had also
announced to offer 4 MT of coal meant for e-auction in October to power
companies.
Source: Business Line
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