Union Minister of Coal Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday said: “there is no need to panic”, as the government is “monitoring the situation on a day-to-day, hourly basis” amid reports that coal shortage is likely to worsen, exacerbating the power crisis across several states.
Joshi told the news agency ANI that as of April 25, 21.55 million tons of coal stock was available with thermal power plants; which is almost 9-9.5 days of stock available with thermal power plants. “This stock is replenished on a day-to-day basis. With Coal India together, we’ve around 72.5 mn tons stock,” he added.
India is facing one of the worst power crises in years owing to rising temperature and a subsequent spike in power demand. The government denies several reports of coal shortage at thermal power stations across states but power cuts in several states tell a different tale.
“According to me, there is no need to panic. Govt is monitoring the situation on a day-to-day basis, hourly basis. We will supply the required coal to the country” Joshi told ANI.
The Ministry of Power said the peak power demand pan-India crossed the record of 201.066 GW at 14:51 hours on Tuesday. Peak power demand on April 27, 2022 broke the previous record of 200.539 GW witnessed on July 7, 2021. According to a ministry statement, a rising power demand reflects the economic growth in the country.
In March, the growth in energy demand was 8.9 per cent. This demand is expected to reach about 215-220 GW in the months of May-June.
“The government and other stakeholders are working together to ensure unhindered power supply and efforts at all fronts are being made and measures are being taken for better utilisation of various resources,” the ministry said in a statement.
In view of the increasing power crisis in the country, Union Power Minister R K Singh on Monday met Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
