Power outages: Priority to coal rakes to hit salt supply from Kutch

RAJKOT: The priority given to coal rakes by the Indian Railways may adversely affect the supply of salt from Kutch to various states across the country. The railways has given priority to coal rakes in view of shortage of coal at power plants.
According to salt manufacturers, they now get just five rakes every day for transport of both industrial and edible salt and the number of rakes will decrease when the coal import increases. They said they were getting eight rakes earlier. The railway ministry has asked the officials in Kutch to transport coal to six power generation plants in north India on priority basis.
Kutch meets 75 per cent of the salt requirement of the country, both for industrial and edible use. While around 2,700 tonne of edible salt is carried in one rake, the carrying capacity of one rake for industrial salt is around 3,800-4,000 tonne. Shamji Kangad, vice-president of Indian Salt Manufacturers Association (ISMA), said: "We used to get 7-8 rakes daily, but over the last fortnight we get 4-5 rakes daily for salt transportation. About 70 per cent of the salt of for industrial use and edible purpose is transported by train."
He said in monsoon it is difficult to transport salt and that is why all traders stock salt in May. According to industry sources, in the long run it may create shortage of salt and once the shortage is created it will take a month to overcome that shortage.
According to railway officials, they have been given a list by the ministry to supply coal on priority basis to six power plants in Gujarat, Haryana, Punajab and Uttar Pradesh. The transport of coal is done after it is imported at Deendayal Port, Mundra and Navlakhi port.
"Coal transportation to the power stations is the top most priority. Supply of industrial salt has been primarily hit, but it is for a short period. Currently, three rakes are going from Kutch daily but it will increase to 10 very soon, " said a senior official.
According to railway officials, it is not possible to bring salt from the salt pans during monsoon. "This year if the salt factory owners bring salt in advance from the salt pans and stock it in their factory, they would be able to transport it during monsoon,'' they said.
In Kutch, around 2.86 crore tonne of salt is produced a year and of this 2 crore tonne is consumed in the domestic market both for industrial and edible purposes. In industry, 1.2 crore tonne of salt is used.