New Delhi, April 24 (Agency) Amid power shortage fears due to low low availability of coal at power plants, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Saturday that there was sufficient coal with thermal power plants. He said that at present 72.50 Million Ton (MT) of coal is available at different sources of Coal India Ltd (CIL), Singareni Colleries Company Ltd (SCCL), coal washeries etc. The Minister noted that 22.01 Million Ton coal is available with Thermal Power Plants (TPPs). Ministry of Coal in a statement said that total coal production during the financial year 2021-22 touched 777.23 Million Ton (MT) compared to 716 MT during 2020-21, recording a growth of 8.55 per cent. It further said that Coal India Ltd (CIL) production went up by 4.43 per cent from 596.24 MT in 2020-21 to 622.64 MT during the financial year 2021-22. Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) with an increase of 28.55 per cent growth produced 65.02 MT during 2021-22 compared to 50.58 MT the previous year. At the same time, coal production of captive mines has gone up to 89.57 MT.
During 2020-21 it was only 69.18 MT. “Total coal dispatch during 2021-22 touched the figure of 818.04 MT against the figure of 690.71 MT the previous year, an increase of 18.43 per cent. During the period, CIL dispatched 661.85 MT coal against 2020-21 figure of 573.80 MT,” said Coal Ministry. Rating and research firm ICRA in a report last month said that coal supply to the power sector increased by 24% since October 2021 to meet the growing demand from power utilities. “However, the improvement in stock levels remains slow with coal stock at 9 days as on Mar 27, 2022, against the normative requirement of 24 days at the all-India level, with supply and consumption remaining at par,” it said. As per the report, the shortfall in stock level is prominent for state generation utilities in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.