Blackout Threatened by Coal Shortage: Home Minister meets Power Minister and Coal Minister amid concerns over power cuts; Power ministry officials also attended the meeting

Amid concerns of shortage of coal in power plants across India, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday met Union Power Minister RK Singh and Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi. According to news agency ANI, officials of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), power and coal ministries also attended the meeting.

Shortage of coal reserves in thermal plants
According to data from the Central Electricity Authority of India, the country is facing a shortage of coal reserves in thermal plants, which could lead to a power crisis. As on October 5, out of 135 thermal plants using coal for power generation, 106 or about 80 per cent were either in critical or supercritical stage, i.e. they had stock for the next 6-7 days only.

Many states warn of power cuts
Several states have warned of power cuts in the wake of acute shortage of coal, but the Coal Ministry has said that there is enough dry fuel available in the country to meet the demand of power generation plants and any disruption in power supply will be avoided. The news was dismissed. In a statement on Sunday, the Coal Ministry had said that the current fuel stock at the coal-fired plant is around 7.2 million tonnes, which is enough for four days.

Kejriwal had warned of power crisis in Delhi
The clarification comes a day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal warned of a power crisis in the national capital due to short supply of coal. On the other hand, Congress has blamed the government for the shortage of coal in the country and expressed apprehension that after the hike in petrol prices, electricity rates may now be increased. Former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh demanded an inquiry into the shortage of coal.

Energy Minister said there is no shortage of electricity
Union Power Minister RK Singh on Sunday said there is no shortage of electricity in Delhi and assured that the supply of coal will continue in future also. Singh said that the country is four days ahead of the average coal requirement per day. Let us also tell you here that an Inter-Ministerial Sub Group headed by the Ministry of Coal is monitoring the coal stock situation in the country twice a week.

Four reasons for shortage of coal
In a statement on Saturday, the Ministry of Power had cited four reasons that are causing coal shortage in various states – increase in power demand due to the revival of the economy, heavy rains in coal mine areas during September, 2021, Rise in prices and insufficient stock of coal before the onset of monsoon.