Amid the ongoing coal shortage, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday, 11 October met cabinet officials in charge of the coal and power ministries.
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) officials as well as Union Power Minister RK Singh, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi along with officials of Power and Coal Ministry attended the afternoon meeting.
Meanwhile, Delhi CM stated that several chief ministers have written about the ongoing crisis to the central government.
The national capital's Power Minister Satyendra Jain warned that only 2-3 days of coal stock was left in most power plants and urged the Centre to offer relief.
Meanwhile, reports of power cuts in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh have also surfaced. Rajasthan, too, on Friday, had announced that it would impose scheduled power cuts for one hour every day to deal with the coal crisis.
Bihar, Kerala, Chhattisgarh Raise Concerns
On Monday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar echoed these concerns and said, "It's true there is a problem. As per our requirement, either we get it from NTPC or from private companies. But the supply is affected now. There're some reasons due to which such situation has arisen. It's not only in Bihar, it's everywhere," news agency ANI reported.
Kerala Electricity Minister K Krishnankutty also stated that the state government will deliberate on the issue of mandated power cuts after 19 October.
"At present, the state is facing a shortage of 100 MW and trying to meet demand-supply gap through automated management system and by purchasing electricity at higher prices," he said.
Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel reiterated these concerns and questioned, "The Centre claims that there is no shortage of coal but power plants are shutting down... Why is it making false claims, coal import has also stopped... this will affect power supply... What is the Centre doing?" ANI quoted.
He added further that Chhattisgarh government officials met with SECL, power, and railway officers and had gotten assurances over the supply of coal.
'Disruption in Power Supply is Misplaced': Centre
In a statement on Sunday, the Ministry of Coal stated that the present fuel stock at coal-powered plants is about 7.2 million tons, sufficient for four days.
"Any fear of disruption in power supply is entirely misplaced," the ministry maintained.
The ministry's statement had come a day after the Delhi government warned that the capital has only a day's coal stock left to supply power while also hinting at the possibility of a blackout.
(With inputs from ANI)
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