Coal production from captive mines increased : Pralhad Joshi

Amidst concerns over shortage of coal supply in thermal power plants, the Centre on Monday said coal production from captive mines increased to more than double in the country compared to the last seven years.

"Coal production from captive mines has seen more than a 100 per cent increase from 39.48 MT(million tonnes) in 2013-14 to 86 MT in 2021-22," Union Minister for Coal Pralhad Joshi said.

Dismissing apprehensions over coal shortage, the Minister said coal companies were dispatching almost 2.0 million tonnes (MT) of coal every day to the power sector through various modes, including railways, roadways and rail-cum-road (RCR) modes.

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Additionally, 16.7 MT coal has been offered to the power generation companies with an option to lift this quantity through RCR-mode to augment stock, he added.

To increase the coal supply to power plants, the Indian Railways said it will increase the number of rakes for transporting coal to powerhouses to 415 per day from about 380 in the first half of April.

"Operations of coal-transporting freight trains have been prioritised and intensively monitored right from the time of coal loading to unloading at the destination sites", said Rajiv Jain, Additional Director General (ADG) (Public Relations) of Indian Railways.

Separately, Union Minister for Power R K Singh and Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw held a meeting here on Monday to discuss short term and long term strategies for dealing with increasing power demand.

Representatives from Coal and Power PSUs and Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, where shortage was high also joined virtually.

Singh urged all stakeholders at the Centre and state level to work hand in hand for unhindered power supply. He urged the power generation companies to own freight rakes under the scheme of Ministry of Railways to deal with logistic constraints in coal supply.

According to the Central Electricity Authority's report on coal stock situation, the coal stocks of 105 thermal power plants were critically low out of the total 165 plants in the country. Plants having 25 per cent of coal stock are classified as critical by the CEA.

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