Government Says Adequate Coal Stock Available, Power Disruption Fears "Misplaced"
NDTV
Government has assured that ample dry fuel stocks are available to meet the demand of power plants and fears of disruptions are "entirely misplaced"
Amid rising possibilities of several parts of the country facing power blackouts due to acute shortage of coal supplies to many states, the government on Sunday assured that ample dry fuel stocks are available to meet the demand of power plants and fears of disruptions are “entirely misplaced”.
Attempting to allay the fears of many states which are left with a couple of days stock of dry fuel, the Coal Ministry in a statement said that adequate supplies are available in the country and “any fear of disruption in power supply is entirely misplaced. The coal stock at power plant end is about 72 lakh tonnes, sufficient for four-days requirement, and at the Coal India Limited (CIL) end is more than 400 lakh tonnes, which is being supplied to the power plants”.
The daily dry fuel requirement of power plants is around 18 lakh tonnes, while daily coal supply has been to the tune of 17 lakh tonnes, the ministry said, adding that due to prolonged monsoon, the supplies to plants were affected, however the coal available with power plants is a rolling stock, which means it gets replenished on a daily basis and therefore “any fear of coal stocks depleting at the plant-end is erroneous”.
The Coal Ministry in fact said that during the current fiscal, domestic dry fuel supply has surpassed imports quite substantially.