No coal shortage at power plants; supply rises 25% in Apr-Dec 2021: Govt
Premium- The despatch showed a growth of about 25% with respect to the preceding year and by about 15 per cent with respect to 2019-20
The central government on Thursday said there is no coal shortage at power plants and that plants have got 25% higher coal supply of 430.6 million tonnes in April-December 2021 compared to a year ago.
"Presently, there is no shortage of coal for power plants in the country," Union Power Minister R K Singh on Thursday said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
The minister informed that the total quantity of coal despatched to the power sector by Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) during April-December 2021 stood at about 430.6 million tonnes (MT), against about 344.2 MT in the year-ago period.
The despatch showed a growth of about 25% with respect to the preceding year and by about 15 per cent with respect to 2019-20, he added.
The coal import has reduced to 21.4 MT during 2021-22 (April-December) as against 35.1 MT during the same period of 2020-21 and 52.5 MT during the same period of 2019-20. The shortfall in imported coal has been compensated by supply from domestic coal, he stated.
As a result of the above measures, the minister said, the coal stock available at the power plants has increased from 7.2 MT as on October 8, 2021, to about 25 MT as on January 26, 2022.
The government has taken several measures to increase the coal supply to power plants. To address the issues of coal supplies to the power sector, an inter-ministerial sub-group meet regularly to take various operational decisions to enhance the supply of coal to thermal power plants as well as for meeting any contingent situations related to the power sector, including to alleviate critical coal stock position in power plants.
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