The coal power stations had around an average of four days’ worth of coal at the end of September 2021. However, as brought into notice by Pralhad Joshi, Coal India limited currently holds 22 days’ worth of coal supply.
Considering the coal shortage in India where power plants were on high alert for outages, the government is undertaking necessary steps in order to bring an adequate supply of coal to the power plants. Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi said on October 12, 2021, that India had a record coal supply on October 11, 2021, and informed that the Coal India and Ministry of Coal is making continuous efforts in order to meet the demand in the country.
The coal power stations had around an average of four days’ worth of coal at the end of September 2021. However, as brought into notice by Pralhad Joshi, Coal India limited currently holds 22 days’ worth of coal supply.
Joshi said that on October 11, 2021, 1.95 million tonnes of coal was supplied. He further said that more coal will be supplied at a faster pace and the coal supply will be improved rapidly.
He had mentioned in the regard of coal supply that after October 21, they will try to supply upto 2 million tonnes of coal.
To an exciting amazement, Joshi expressed on October 13, 2021, that total coal supply hit more than 2 million tonnes on October 12, 2021.
He mentioned on Twitter that he was happy to share the news and they would be increasing coal dispatch to power plants further in order to make sure that there are sufficient coal stocks at power plants.
The government has assured that the country has enough coal supply and that the supplies of coal drop during monsoon due to flooding in mines. Power Minister RK Singh mentioned that there is sufficient power available.
The Ministry of Coal launched the auction process of 40 new coal mines on October 12, 2021, in which 21 new mines are under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act 2015 and 19 falls under the Tranche three of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957.
The Ministry of Coal mentioned that the step is in line with the successful auction of 28 coal mines in the first two tranches and there shall be a total of 88 mines on offer at present.
The ministry said in an official statement that total geological resources of around 55 billion tonnes of coal are offered from 88 mines, out of which 57 are completely explored ones and the remaining 31 mines are partially explored. It was also informed that there are over 4 coking coal mines on offer in auction.
