There is absolutely no dearth of coal for power plants in the country, said Coal India Chairman Anil Kumar Jha here on Thursday.
Jha told reporters that the Coal India is presently having a stock of nearly 45 million tonnes and it is only due to logistics problems, including lack of proper rail networks, that the stock is not reaching the desired locations.
The Coal India’s subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields limited (MCl) contributes nearly 25 per cent of the entire production and 50 per cent of the profit, he said. Jha further informed that the national daily average coal requirement of power plants is 14 lakh tonnes. At present, the power plants are having a stock of 10 days and efforts are on to increase the inventory by at least 22 days.
“Having coal has no meaning if it is not properly and timely transported. Hence, the MCl for the first time has set up a 53 km-long rail network by investing Rs 1,000 crore. Once the project is completed, it can be used for commercial purposes as well,” said Jha.
At present, India is the third largest producer of coal after the USA and China with an annual production of 700 million tonnes. China’s total production stands at 3,600 MT followed by 900 MT in the USA he pointed out.