The Madhya Pradesh government has once again blamed the Centre, particularly Indian Railways, for coal shortage at its 1,350-Mw Birsinghpur power plant, thereby creating at least 500-Mw power shortage in the state.
There was a sudden fall in power generation due to short supply of coal recently and the plant load factor of Birsinghpur unit plummeted to 73 against the normal of 86.
The soaring mercury that touched a record high of 48 degree at some places, coupled with frequent power cuts crippled normal life. “We have left with only three-days of coal stock or just 80,000 tonnes at our Birsinghpur power plant against the Centre’s norm of 20-days stock. The railways have not ensured racks for coal supply as a result of which the stock has reduced to only 80,000 tonnes,” said a senior official in the power department.
Further hydel power generation has also dropped to 717 Mw against the normal generation of 900 Mw due to low-level of water at various reservoirs. “Railways supplied only two racks against the demand of five racks. As a result Birsinghpur has reported 500 Mw drop in its power generation,” the officials said.
A Southern Eastern Railway spokesperson said, “SECL (Southern Eastern Coalfield) had demanded a total of 102 racks for Coal India Coalfields (CIC) and Korba Coalfields. We have supplied 60 racks for CIC and 29 for Korba coalfields. There was no further demand for racks. We have sufficient racks. If they demand we will make them available.