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Amid power cuts, Stalin urges PM Modi to ensure 72,000 MT coal supply daily
The current daily receipt of coal for Tamil Nadu’s units is only 50,000 MTs, against the coal requirement of 72,000 MTs.
Over the past few days Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu have suffered with voltage fluctuations and power cuts amid the scorching heat. Chief minister MK Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday requesting to direct the ministry of coal to ensure the supply of 72,000 MT coal per day as per the FSA (Fuel Supply Agreement) at Paradip and Visakhapatnam ports.
Only this step can enable the state government to maintain uninterrupted power supply in Tamil Nadu, said Stalin.
The current daily receipt of coal for Tamil Nadu’s units is only 50,000 MTs, against the coal requirement of 72,000 MTs. “I have been informed that even though the coal production is sufficient to meet the increased summer demand for power, the same is not getting transported to ports due to short supply of rakes by railways,” Stalin said in his letter. “This, in turn, has resulted in the coal stocks of our state’s generation plants reaching critical levels. In the case of TANGEDCO, 22 railway rakes per day are required for moving 72,000 MTs of daily allotted coal to Paradip and Visakhapatnam ports. However, on an average, only 14 rakes per day are currently being provided by (the) Railways.”
TANGEDO (Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited) is an electrical power generation and distribution public sector undertaking owned by the government of Tamil Nadu.
Stalin approached Modi, on the same day when the principal opposition, the AIADMK raised this issue in the assembly that people were irked over frequent power cuts.
The state electricity minister V Senthil Balaji said the government was planning to buy power at a cheaper rate from private players. Dissatisfied with his response, the AIADMK walked out from the assembly. On April 30, Balaji had also tweeted that about 750 megawatt (MW) of power from the central grid to southern states dropped abruptly on Wednesday night.
Leader of opposition Edappadi Palaniswami speaking to reporters after walking out blamed the ruling DMK government. “The reason for the power cut is that the DMK government is operating without administrative efficiency and without purchasing and stockpiling the required coal for the summer from abroad and the central government as it did under the AIADMK regime,” Palaniswami said. “This government’s wrong decisions are fully to blame for this situation.”
Stalin, in his letter, said due to the resultant shortage of domestic coal, TANGEDCO has to resort to import coal at the current historically high prices, for maintaining uninterrupted power supply.
Further, the gap in power generation is also being filled by buying power at high rates in energy exchanges. “Unfortunately, sufficient quantum of power is not available in energy exchanges to meet the requirement of all buying utilities. This serious situation would significantly impact the nascent post Covid economic recovery and needs to be immediately addressed,” he said.
“I write this letter seeking your urgent assistance to ensure adequate availability of coal for the power generation units in Tamil Nadu. Provision of sufficient coal from Talcher mines in Odisha is vital for the units in our state.”
