Power crisis: major plants running short of coal
India's metros are running short of power and what is worse is that the situation could get worse. It has learned that five National Thermal Power Corporation plants have coal for just a day or maximum two.
NTPC's 13-day coal reserves of 5.3 metric tonnes have depleted and supply from Coal India for power plants is down to just 20 per cent.
For now the Cabinet has allowed NTPC and other PSUs to import coal to tide over crisis.Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has blamed the shortfall on heavy rain in mining areas. He said, "We had a meeting regarding the shortfall of the coal and the target that we have set for our production. There has been some shortfall because of heavy rainfall in mining areas, if NTPC asks for more coal we will provide them because it's a government company and provides power to the nation."
The power plants that are likely to be affected include Indraprastha in Delhi, Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, Panipat plant in Haryana among others.The power situation in West Bengal, too, is not any better with domestic production of coal hit. On Thursday, there was a shortage of 875 MW across the entire state with the capital Kolkata and neighbouring suburbs reeling under heavy power cuts due to a shortage of 170 MW.
The reserve at the main coal plants is running thin. Farakka has coal stock which can last only for the next three days.Also, the state has outstanding dues amounting to Rs 500 crore to various coal companies.
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