New Delhi, Oct 16 (Agency) With government working on war-footing to increase coal supplies to thermal power plants, signs of progressive improvement are visible. The coal based capacity under outage due to coal shortage has reduced to 5 GW from 11 GW two days back. “Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO) has reported that the total capacity of units under outage due to low coal stocks has reduced from 11 GW on 12th October 21 to 5 GW on 14th October 21,” said Power Ministry. The capacity outage due to coal shortage was 6 GW on October 13. Amid reports of thermal power plants grappling with coal shortage, the Centre has maintained that coal dispatch to power plants are being increased.
The Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi had earlier said that that cumulative coal supplies have increased to more than two million tonnes (a day on increased coal production by state-run Coal India and its subsidiaries. The Minister on Thursday reviewed coal production and offtake of Central coalfields Ltd (CCL) and Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL). He gave out directions to ensure sustained coal production and dispatch to the power plants. “Festive season has started and it is our duty to secure uninterrupted supply of coal to the power plants” the Minister said. Joshi also said that the coal companies should take necessary steps to clear the bottlenecks in coal evacuation and production. He directed the officials to motivate the employees to make all-out efforts to scale up production and dispatch. An inter-Ministerial sub-Group led by Ministry of Coal has been monitoring the coal stock situation twice a week.