Coal stock at the power plants had depleted to a low of 7.2 million tonnes in October 2021 due to interruption in supply and increased demands, but the supply has now normalised and there is no shortage, Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi said on Wednesday.
"There is no shortage of coal in the country," the minister said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
However, the minister admitted that the country faced a shortage of coal supply in October.
"Due to increased demand of power, less power generation by imported coal based power plants and some interruption in the supply of coal due to heavy rains, the coal stock at the power plants depleted to 7.2 MT as on 8th October 2021," he said.
"Subsequently with increased coal supplies, the coal stock has started increasing and has now reached 26.5 MT as on 09.03.2022 with respect to the plants based on domestic coal. In addition, coal stock at Coal India Limited (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) pithead as on 13.03.2022 is 47.95 MT and 4.49MT respectively," Joshi added.
The minister noted that owing to COVID -19 pandemic, the subdued demand in power and non-power sectors had adversely affected coal dispatch from the coal companies.
The pithead coal stock at Coal India Limited was 99.33 Million Tonnes (MT) as on 1st April 2021 and 28.66 MT at the Thermal Power Plants end. The coal production got regulated due to high levels of coal inventory and less demand from the consumers, he said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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