The inter-ministerial panel met recently to consider the requests for coal linkages to central/state sector power plants and to review the status of existing coal linkages.
The importance of the seamless and timely movement of coal rakes to various power plants has been emphasised.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria issued the warrant against Rujira, whose husband is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Coal accounts for nearly 75% of India's power output. But with the shortage of coal, the power crisis is inevitable. There are other factors that add as well.
The growth in the production of natural gas, steel, cement and electricity slowed down to 7.6 per cent, 3.7 per cent, 8.8 per cent and 4.9 per cent during the month
Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain said there is an "acute shortage" of coal due to unavailability of adequate number of rakes and warned there may be "difficulty" in supply if power plants are shut.
The Delhi government said that due to disruption of power supply from the Dadri-National Capital Power Station & Feroze Gandhi Unchahar Thermal Power Plant, there may be a problem with the 24-hour power supply to many essential institutions including Delhi Metro, hospitals.
On average, power plants in India are a having coal stock of 22 mt and on an average daily 2.1 mt coal is replaced with plants. So, no shortage of coal will arise in the country, sources said. Power plants in India still have 10 days of stock and the country has coal stock of more than 30 days, the sources added.
Amit Shah on Apr 19 had chaired a meeting with Power Minister RK Singh, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi & Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to assess the situation following reports of coal shortage reported by many states.
The thermal power companies are facing shortage of low ash coal because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war as they were unable to get coal loads from Russia.
Several states are finding it difficult to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of eletricity.
Talking to reporters, Maharashtra's Energy Minister Nitin Raut said there was no load-shedding in Maharashtra for the past five to six days due to this micro-level planning and the power deficit stood at 15 per cent.
The ministry added that the coal supply to thermal plants is increasing in tandem with an increase in demand for power.
Sources say both the nations will conclude an early harvest agreement by the end of this month. Australia on Sunday said it is hopeful of concluding an early harvest trade deal with India by the end of this month.
The latest figures indicate that the coal shortage situation is improving slowly.
"The Centre is fulfilling all the demands required by the states. Coal stocks have started increasing in the last four days," sources said.
The government has also asked state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) to augment the coal supply to power producers to 1.55-1.6 million tonnes (MT) per day around the Durga Puja period, and to further scale it to 1.7 MT per day after October 20, according to a source.
Earlier in the day, Home Minister Amit Shah held an hour-long meeting with Power Minister, Coal Minister, and other officials over possible coal shortage and power crisis concerns.
The coal shortages at power plants had come at a time when production from Coal India, which meets almost 80 per cent of the fuel needs of the country, had fallen owing to the long monsoon this year.
Rains took a toll on the coal movement, from mines to power generation units, impacting power generation in many states, including Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Tamil Nadu, despite the country producing record coal this year.
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