Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi on Saturday said the country has sufficient availability of the dry fuel, with 72.50 million tonnes (MT) available at different sources and 22 MT at thermal power plants.
The minister asserted that available coal stocks will last for a month and availability is getting replenished on a daily basis with record production. Joshi said that at present 72.50 MT of coal is available at different sources of Coal India Ltd (CIL), Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) and coal washeries among others.
According to the provisional data from the government, the total coal production last fiscal was at 777.23 MT as against 716 MT in FY21, recording a growth of 8.55 per cent, the Coal Ministry said in a statement.
CIL’s output rose by 4.43 per cent to 622.64 MT in FY22 from 596.24 MT in FY21, while that of SCCL grew by 28.55 per cent to 65.02 MT from 50.58 MT a year ago.
At the same time, coal production of captive mines has increased to 89.57 MT. During FY21 it was only 69.18 MT. Total coal dispatch during FY’22 increased by 18.43 per cent to 818.04 MT against 690.71 MT in FY’21.
CIL accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output.
Heat waves across several parts of India, the consequent increase in power demand, and fears of a coal shortage have triggered planned blackouts in many states in the country, including Maharashtra. WITH PTI
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