Indian leaders reassure public on coal as fears grow of power outages

THE Indian government on Tuesday assured the public that enough coal would be available to meet the nation’s needs amid fears of blackouts, with several states flagging worries about outages.

Several states expressed fears after power cuts were reported during the weekend. The government downplayed their concerns, however, insisting sufficient quantities of coal were available to meet the needs of power plants.

Coal minister Pralhad Joshi said state-run Coal India, which supplies 80 pe cent of the country’s power, has 22 days’ worth of coal and the government was increasing supplies.

“esterday we supplied 1.9 million tonnes of coal which is a record. After October 21, we will try to supply up to 2 million tonnes,” he said. “e want to assure the whole country that coal will be made available as per requirements.”

Government data on coal supplies in thermal power stations shows that 11 of 1 federally-monitored power stations face a “critical or super critical” shortage of coal, broadcaster NDTV reported.

Seventy plants had less than four days’ worth of supplies. Coal accounts for nearly

0 percent of India’s electricity generation, with some percent mined domestically.

The government allowed power producers to expedite imports of coal to meet increased power demands, in a move that could drive up prices further.

It also warned states that power producers would curtail their electricity supplies if their utilities were found to be selling power on exchanges to take advantage of the rising prices.