‘Over 16 states seeing 1-2 days of coal…’: AAP's Raghav Chadha on coal shortage

A severe heatwave, accompanied by a coal shortage, has triggered massive blackouts across India.

Published on: Apr 29, 2022, 18:08:08 IST

By HT News Desk | Written by Manjiri Sachin Chitre | Edited by Chandrashekar Srinivasan

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Raghav Chadha on Friday hit out at the Centre over the coal shortage in the country. Mentioning that over 16 states - including Punjab - are “seeing only one or two days of remaining coal supply”, he said that the “Centre has to fulfil its responsibility.”

AAP leader and Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha (ANI)

“Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann went to meet union coal minister (Pralhad Joshi) in Delhi a few days ago; the latter assured of no coal shortage. Still, more than 16 states including Punjab, are seeing only 1-2 days of coal supply left. Centre has to fulfil its responsibility,” Raghav Chadha told news agency ANI.

Also read: Coal shortage trips power supply in Punjab

A severe heatwave, accompanied by a coal shortage, has triggered massive blackouts across India. Several states are struggling to meet the demand for electricity. The increased demand for power supply has now led to low inventories of coal which is used to produce 70 per cent of India's electricity. States including Punjab, Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi, are facing a power crisis due to the coal shortage.

Delhi's power minister Satyendar Jain on Friday raised an alarm over the shortage of coal.

“No (power) backup (is there).. . (the) coal backup should be for over 21 days, but at many power plants, less than a day's (stock) is left,” he said at a press briefing. The minister further pointed out that the city “cannot function on a day's backup".

The state government has also written a letter to the Centre - urging it to ensure adequate coal supply in the national capital.

However, the NTPC on Friday contradicted the AAP government's claim. Issuing a statement, the NTPC said that power stations are running at a full capacity and receiving regular supplies.

Also read: Heatwave, coal shortage lead to blackouts. See how your state is affected

“Currently Unchahar and Dadri stations are declaring more than 100% rated capacity to the grid. All units of Unchahar and Dadri are running at full load except Unchahar Unit 1, which is under annual planned overhaul,” the statement read.

Union minister RK Singh on Thursday blamed the states for power outages. According to him, the problems “were not due to any shortage of coal” but because of the “non-payment dues to Coal India Limited (CIL), delay in lifting coal, and improper planning.”

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