Dismissing reports that Coal India (CIL) is not dispatching adequate coal to power plants, the public sector firm has claimed that supply of the fossil fuel to power stations has increased “tremendously“.
“If you take the average of October, November and December... the supply (of coal) to power sector has been 95 per cent of our commitment and in December alone, it is 103 per cent of the commitment, so where is the failure of CIL?”, CIL Chairman and Managing Director Mr N C Jha said.
Mr Jha was reacting to newspaper reports that claim the company has not been keeping to its supply commitments.
“I have read in the newspaper that Coal India in failing to supply coal to the power stations but the fact is exactly reverse. Definitely in the months of August and September, because there was a great depression in our production... the production has depressed and also the supply of coal has depressed,” he said.
“This continued till the first half of October... but after the second half, supply to power sector has increased tremendously,” he added.
“I absolutely do not agree with this (CIL is failing to supply coal to the power stations). Coal India has been endeavouring hard to supply coal to the power sector,” Mr Jha said.
The CMD, however, admitted that due to the inadequate dispatch of coal to power stations in the monsoon months, the stock at the power stations has reduced. “But this (coal stock) cannot be made up overnight, but with the passage of time,” he added.
“Every year, it is made up between November to March because excessive consumption from the stocks of power plants in the monsoon months gets supplemented through additional supply during these dry months. This is what exactly is happening even now,” Mr Jha added.
Last week, Coal Minister Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal had also said there was no crisis at power stations due to short supply of the fossil fuel and assured that no station would be shut down for want of coal.
In October, inadequate supply of coal to power stations had resulted in acute power cuts in many parts of the country, including North India.
Subsequently, the government swung into action and asked coal companies, including CIL, to step up supply to stations facing a shortage of the dry fuel.
Dispatch of coal to power firms suffered a setback in August and September due to heavy rains in all the coalfields, adversely affecting production and transportation of coal from mines to railway sidings.