CIL's coal production increases by 27.2 pc in April, despatch improves by 5.8 pc

New Delhi: As several states report power outages amid the coal crisis, Coal India Limited has reported an increase of 27.2 per cent in its output in April 2022, as compared to the year-ago period, the Ministry of Coal on Friday.

The despatch of coal also improved by 5.8 per cent year-on-year in April 2022.

“Coal production by Coal India Ltd (CIL) has increased by 27.2 per cent in April 2022 as compared to the same period of last year and coal despatch has increased by 5.8 per cent,” the Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry further informed that the CIL has a coal stock of 56.7 MT at present, while the stock at Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is at 4.3 MT, and the captive coal blocks have about 2.3 MT of stock.

“Thus, sufficient coal stock with coal companies is available,” the Ministry said.

Further, the statement said that the coal stock at good shed sidings, washery sidings and port is about 4.7 MT and it is ready to be moved to power plants immediately.

The demand for power has risen in April due to heatwave and people in different parts of the country are facing power cuts. The problem has been accentuated by a steep rise in prices of imported coal due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and some power plants not operating to their full capacity.

Amid reports of a dip in coal stocks with thermal plants, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has said that the country’s thermal plants hold about 22 million tonnes of coal which is enough for 10 days and replenishment will be done continuously.

Jharkhand, Haryana, Bihar, Punjab, and Maharashtra are among the states seeing power outages. Delhi has also written to the Centre over the possibility of power cuts to important establishments. The states and UTs are also taking steps to deal with the situation.

Meanwhile, Indian Railways has decided to cancel 657 train trips to speed up the movement of coal rakes to power plants.

As many as 509 mail/express train trips/services and 148 MEMU train services have been cancelled.