After suffering extended power crisis last year around monsoon, Madhya Pradesh is staring at similar trouble as coal stocks have plunged in thermal power plants in the state due to short supplies.
Official sources claimed that thermal power plants in Madhya Pradesh are left with 2.72 lakh metric tonnes of coal stocks, which is only sufficient for keeping them running for three to four days.
The government dispatch centre has issued these figures, concerning administration and the public alike. Subject experts have claimed that the state government should immediately intensify attempts to source supplies from the Centre and Railways should play a greater role in improving supplies.
Commenting on the coal stocks with thermal power plants, a senior officer of the energy department said mostly, the plants have 33% stocks on a given day but the stocks have plummeted to 13 per cent of late.
For example, Amarkantak power plant is left with 49.20 thousand metric tonnes of coal while Birsinghpur power plants has been reduced to 35.30 thousand metric tonnes of coal. Satpura Sarini power plant has 50.30 metric tonnes of stock and Singaji power plant has 1,36,400 metric tonnes of stocks.
In all, the power plants in the state are left with 2.72 lakh metric tonnes of coal.
Reports suggest that 100 out of 173 power plants of the country are facing coal shortage and a dozen states, including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Jharkhand, Haryana and others, are facing power outages.
Supplies dwindled in MP
The experts from the sector claim that the power plants require around 58,000 metric tonnes of supplies daily while the supplies have plunged to around 50,000 metric tonnes per day recently.
As standard procedure, the thermal plants maintain 26 days of coal stocks but in Madhya Pradesh, the plants are left with stocks that could last for three days. To add, many states are battling with coal shortage and are demanding additional supplies from the Centre.
Power went off during CM’s speech days ago
A couple of days ago, electricity had gone off as Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was delivering a speech at a function in Bhopal. Chouhan, however, did not lose his cool and asked whether Sanjay Dubey, Principal Secretary of Energy Department, was around. Amid guffaws in the audience, Chouhan had admitted that there was coal shortage in the country presently. He had said Dubey was urging him for some additional rakes of coal from Centre. The power supply though was restored minutes after.
(With inputs from Prateek Mohan Awasthi)
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