New Delhi, May 6 (Agency) Amid rising concerns of power cuts in many states due to coal shortage, Union Power & NRE Minister RK Singh on Thursday warned state governments to lift the allocated coal to them or else it would be offered to other states. The Minister, who reviewed the status of import of coal for blending in the thermal power plants, highlighted that many states have not yet issued tenders or taken any significant actions to import coal to ensure the fuel supply to their power plants. Singh said that the progress on lifting the allotted coal by states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh was not satisfactory. “States need to take actions to ensure coal supply to their power plants by ensuring off-take in the rail-cum-road (RCR) mode to meet the shortfall in coal requirement at their power plants and stated that in the event of states not lifting the RCR coal it would be de-allocated and offered to other states and the concerned states would be responsible for any shortages and consequent power-shortages in their states,” the minister said.
Highlighting the importance of importing coal for blending in the thermal power plants, Singh said that many states need to put extra efforts to import the coal for blending at their power plants in time. “While Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have placed orders for the import of coal, Punjab and Gujarat are in the advanced stage of finalisation of the tenders and Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh are in the process of issuing the tenders. However, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand have not yet issued tender or taken any significant actions for the import of coal and were advised to take necessary actions to ensure coal supply to their power plants,” he said. The Minister also advised the states to increase the output from the captive mines to meet their coal requirements which will help in reducing the burden on the linkage coal.