Pramod Agrawal, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Coal India Limited (CIL), stressed on the need for maintaining an ‘integrated approach’ and ‘technological upgradation’ at each stage to ensure an efficient and robust coal logistics network in India.
The CMD was speaking at the ‘Coal Log India 2022’ seminar held recently in Kolkata which was themed on ‘Coal Logistics Optimization – Challenges and Solutions’. “The Indian Railways were carrying 220 rakes of coal per day two years back. Today, the Railways are moving 320 rakes of coal per day. Even rakes carrying coal are getting more priority than passenger trains. This has greatly improved coal transportation,” said Agrawal.
“As far as coal stocks at power plants are concerned, we’ve around 30 million tonnes (mnt) of stock today, which is the second highest in recent history. The highest point was reached during the COVID-19 period. The situation is comfortable. However, temperatures have increased over the last seven days which has created some doubt that perhaps in the coming days we may face some problem… We have to continuously monitor the situation. We have to ensure that the country doesn’t face a power crisis. And Coal India is committed to that,” he said.
The government’s Gati Shakti project will help CIL and the Railways to efficiently meet the country’s energy needs. He said that all three parts of a logistics chain, namely loading, transition or transportation, and unloading need to be taken care of.
Coal here to stay
“We have to shed this mentality that coal will die in the next 5-10 years. In fact, coal is here to stay for the next two or three decades. This change in mindset can bring more investments to facilitate coal movement,” he contended. “CIL has been meeting the demand of the power sector. But we have to also meet the demand of the non-power sector. Otherwise, the development of the nation will be affected,” he added.
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