Coal import call by power ministry temporary: Goyal

Press Trust of India  |  Kolkata 

Minister has said that the recent decision of the to allow states to import is temporary in nature.

"We are constantly trying to ramp up production. Allowing states to import is temporary in nature," told when asked about the asking states to import coal in the wake of coal shortage.

R K Singh has recently red flagged coal shortage for power plants for the next 2-3 years and allowed states to import the fuel.

said there had been constant growth in coal production and dispatches by the and explained that at times imports might be needed as a stop-gap arrangement for states to meet sudden rise in demand.

Goyal said coal production had registered a 15.2 per cent growth during the first quarter ended June 2018 to 136.87 million tonnes and supply to power plants also jumped by 15.4 per cent to 122.84 million tonnes during the quarter.

This resulted in lower coal imports by the power industry by nearly 15 per cent during April-May this year.

The is trying to rationalise coal supplies to power companies based on demand and stock lying with them in order to optimise power generation in the country, a company official said.

The company is also planning to limit supplies with low PLF and high stock with utilities generating more with low stock, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sun, July 29 2018. 11:55 IST