New Delhi: As the country’s power crisis deepens, Power Secretary Alok Kumar said on Monday that Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have to clear dues of coal companies to maintain supply.
In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Kumar acknowledged the power shortage, saying that it has increased slightly in the first week of October.
“The energy shortfall used to be around 0.2-0.3 per cent, currently the shortfall is still less than 1 per cent. In some states, there are some issues but the situation is under control and monitoring is being done continuously,” Kumar told the channel.
Reading: ‘Child marriage should not happen at any cost’: Rajasthan government withdraws controversial bill
Elaborating on the state’s dues, Kumar said, “We are writing to the states to pay their dues to the coal companies as these states have huge dues due to the coal companies and their coal supply is affected.” happened. I would say that these states are responsible for not taking money from their customers on time and making payments to coal companies.
He said that the Chief Secretaries of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have been repeatedly informed about the coal companies clearing their dues to ensure coal supply.
Also on ABP Live: Center orders power companies to increase supply to Delhi amid shortage of coal
“There are factors like delayed monsoon, coal dispatch, though they are more than last year, a tight situation, but the states which have managed coal stocks to coal companies on time, are not such a big problem,” Kumar said.
The power secretary also shared the details at a time when several states, including the national capital Delhi, were battling power crisis as coal movement was affected by excessive rainfall and imported coal-based power plants were producing less than half of their capacity. Were were For record-high rates.
While power producers and distributors have warned of a blackout as production units are running coal in less than two days, the coal ministry pointed out that the country has sufficient coal stocks and low inventory does not mean that production will stop Because the stock is constantly being replenished.
As per the publication, Maharashtra state utility dues for Coal India stood at Rs 3,176.1 crore at the end of FY11, Uttar Pradesh owes Rs 2743.1 crore and Tamil Nadu state utility dues at Rs 1,281.7 crore. and the state utility of Rajasthan was Rs 774 crore.
(with inputs from PTI)
.