Coal India Ltd (CIL), monopoly supplier of the fuel and blamed by China Light and Power (CLP) for unending supply problems for its thermal power project at Jhajjar, Haryana, has blamed the railways for the fuel supply issue.
“We have ensured at least 75 per cent coal availability to all power stations in the region supplied by Central Coalfields but coal supply to Jhajjar has been less than 50 per cent. This happened due to lack of railway rakes for loading,” a top CIL official said.
He said CIL had asked CLP to meet the shortfall by lifting coal directly from its pithead and to transport it though private sidings. Coal India is now mulling shifting extra coal from its other fields to meet the shortage in thermal plants located in the northern region, including Jhajjar.
An official in the Prime Minister’s Office said CIL had been ordered to meet supply for 60,000 Mw capacity projects to be commissioned by 2015. For those where supply still remains inadequate, a cabinet note is being prepared to ensure supply through imports, by working out a methodology for price pooling, he said.
The current imbroglio over the coal crunch began in 2009, when CIL refused to sign fuel supply agreements for new power projects, citing constrained output. Under pressure from the government, however, it started supplying coal to meet half the demand from projects where letters of assurance had been signed.
