Power and Railway Ministers discuss ways to transport coal to power plants more efficiently

Union Power Minister RK Singh and Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw hold meeting to discuss coal transport, supply (Image: PIB)

Union Power Minister RK Singh and Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw held a meeting on April 25 to discuss short-term and long-term strategies for dealing with the increasing power demand.

Power Secretary Alok Kumar, Coal Secretary AK Jain, and senior officials from the Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, and Ministry of Railways were present at the meeting. Representatives from Coal and Power PSUs and states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra also joined in virtually.

At the meeting, Singh urged all stakeholders at the Centre and at the state level to work hand in hand to ensure an unhindered power supply. He urged the power generation companies to own freight rakes under the scheme of the Ministry of Railways to deal with logistic constraints in coal supply.

Issues discussed at the Power Ministry and Railway Ministry meeting included increasing operational efficiency for loading and unloading of coal, increasing the percentage of rakes allotment for the power sector, and other logistics issues.

Earlier this month, Coal India Ltd announced that deliveries to industrial consumers will be restricted to prioritise power plants, as fuel stockpiles were already below target levels and the country was heading into a traditional summer demand peak.

The state-owned miner has limited daily supplies to non-power sector users to 2,75,000 tons, which is about 17 percent lower than what the average daily volumes had been.

Limited availability of railway carriages means the producer has also asked production hubs to use trucks, rather than trains, to transport the majority of fuel to industrial customers, which is likely to slow down deliveries.