Union Coal Secretary Anil Jain on Thursday assured that there will be no shortage of coal for thermal power plants of Rajasthan. He said that for this, arrangements would have to be made to order maximum number of rakes of coal from any mode available to Rajasthan by rail and road.
Jain was taking a high-level meeting of the concerned departments and institutions with Subodh Agrawal, Additional Chief Secretary (Energy) at Vidyut Bhawan on Thursday.
He said that due to higher cost of imported coal in the international market, the demand for coal from imported coal-based units has increased. This has put pressure on local coal mines due to their increased demand.
In a statement, he said that the coal crisis has not ended in the country, so wherever and by whatever means coal is available, it should be stored in thermal power plants so that the power generation is not affected due to the imminent shortage of coal. He assured that full cooperation will be given to Rajasthan by the Centre in the supply of coal.
Agrawal said that keeping in view the requirement of advance storage of coal for at least 20 days for thermal power plants of the state, supply should be ensured. At present, an average stock of seven days is being stored with the state.
RK Sharma, Managing Director, Vidyut Utpadan Nigam said that the Centre should give approval of 1,136 hectares of the second phase of Parsa East and Kanta Basin at the earliest so that coal mining can be done to increase the supply of coal for thermal power plants.
