By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The Ministry of Coal has clarified that supply of coal to the Power Sector is regularly being supervised by the Ministry in close coordination with the Ministries of Power and Railways. As a result of this coordinated efforts the closing stock of coal at the domestic coal-based power plants, as on 31 October this year was 25.6 Million Ton (MT) which is the highest ever in the month of October except for the Covid year of 2020-21. The domestic coal supply to the power sector is 12% more than the same period of last year which is the highest ever supply to power sector in the first seven months of any financial year.
➢ The total domestic coal production is 18% higher than the same period of previous year with Coal India Limited (CIL), achieving a growth of 17.5%.
➢ The captive coal blocks produced 58.6 MT in first seven months registering a growth of 37.5% over the same period of the previous year.
➢ The domestic coal rake loading from all sources of CIL to power sector has been at an all time high of 296.5 rakes per day which is 19% increase over the same period of the previous year.
With an objective to enhance coal production capacity, the Ministry of Coal has recently put 141 new coal blocks for commercial auction. Ministry is closely coordinating with State Governments and central ministries concerned to operationalise mines auctioned earlier, on fast track.
Ministry is also taking steps to augment rail connectivity infrastructure for all major mines under PM-Gatishakti to ensure faster evacuation of coal and the Ministry of Coal is committed to ensure adequate availability of coal to the power sector.
