New Delhi, August 7
The government today said nearly half of the country’s coal- based power plants were facing fuel shortage and had stocks to last less than seven days as of July-end.

In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said, “As on July 30, 2014... 46 thermal power plants (TPPs) were having critical coal stock of less than seven days, out of which 23 TPPs were having super critical coal stock of less than four days requirement.”

The supply had been short due to various factors like less lifting by TPPs through captive modes and logistic constraints of the Railways, he said. The minister added that some power plants affected by coal shortages were Indira Gandhi STPP (Super Thermal Power Plant) in Haryana, Rajpura TPP (Thermal Power Plant), Ropar power plant in Punjab and Suratgarh TPS (Thermal Power Station) in Rajasthan among others.

Goyal had earlier said efforts were on to increase the (coal) crushing capacity, increasing (the number of) washeries in mining areas. “We have also appealed to the Environment Ministry to allow us to mine additional fuel wherever there are possibilities,” he had said.

In his reply today, he said with a view to monitoring coal supplies to the power sector, the government had constituted a sub-group, comprising representatives of power and coal ministries. “This sub-group takes operational decisions for meeting any contingent situations relating to the power sector,” he said.