The ministries of coal and power have locked horns over the veracity of coal shortage in the country. While the power ministry has claimed that at least 40 million tonne coal will have to be imported by the end of 2011-12 to meet the rising need of the sector, the coal ministry maintains there is no shortage as 47 million tonnes of ground coal stock is available in the country.
Minister of state for coal Santosh Bagrodia in fact blamed the power utilities for not adhering to the conditions relating to maintaining coal stock of at least 21 days to avoid a scarcity. He informed that 27 power plants were in critical condition as they are left with coal stock of only seven days. The minister, in his maiden press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday, said utilities are importing coal due to less ash content and high quality.
Bagrodia also ruled out the possibility of hike in coal prices in the current fiscal. The minister’s statement is crucial especially when the state-run Coal India had proposed a rise of at least 10 to 15% in coal prices in view of the current situation.
Besides, the minister also indicated that power utilities could be facing a shortage due to logistical issues related to railways and ports. He added that coal production target for the 11th Plan has been revised to 425 million tonnes from 405 million tones.
Earlier, making a ground for coal import, power secretary Anil Razdan said the power ministry had asked the coal ministry to start working on coal linkages for capacity addition of 80,000 mw planned in the 11th Plan to address the issue of coal shortage. This would enable power utilities to achieve financial closure.
CEA chairman Rakesh Nath too said on the sidelines of a conference on “key inputs for Indian power sector for 11th Plan and beyond”, organised by the CII, that there was likely to be a shortfall of 66 mt coal taking into account the production plan of Coal India and the likely production from the captive blocks allocated to various utilities for the existing projects and the new projects of 11th Plan. “Shortage of 66 mt coal is equivalent to 40 mt imported coal with high calorific value and low ash content,” he noted.
The CEA chief noted that in case there was a slip-up in coal production, full requirement of coal to those power projects would have to be met from Coal India sources, thus widening the demand-supply gap.
