CONRAD DIAS
Ranchi, June 7: The Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) in May had asked the power companies to evaluate their need for coal in June and inform CCL accordingly. However, many power companies have failed to state their requirements anticipating a dip in demand with the monsoon almost arriving.
As per the estimate by Coal India Limited, the power plants around the country currently have around 18.83 million tonnes (MT) worth of coal stocks. They had a provisional closing stock of 53.8 MT.
CIL is dispatching around 282 rakes of coal from its railway sidings on a daily basis which supplies 1.65 MT coal to different power plants against the daily requirement of 2.09 MT coal.
Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi had earlier directed the CCL to increase production. Despite the path taken on April 28, things are not looking up. In comparison to April’s average daily output of 1.85 lakh tonnes, the first two weeks of May saw an average daily production of 1.81 lakh tonnes.
CCL Chairman cum managing director PM Prasad had earlier said in an interview that the company is behind the target as they have recorded a production growth of 7% from last year.
“Production in Kathara mines could not be started as it is pending environmental clearance since December whereas Bhurkunda mines had been closed for one and a half years. Instead of 48, we are dispatching 45 rakes on a daily basis,” he further said.
