The Mahanadi Coalfields ltd (MCl) has produced 107.894 million tonnes of coal during financial year 2012-13, registering a growth of 4.3 per cent against 103.117 MT of the fossil fuel produced during the previous fiscal.
The coal dispatch from the Central-sector company also recorded an increase of 9.2 per cent at 111.961 MT against 102.527 MT in the previous year. While many pithead consumers of the MCl like the Talcher Thermal Power Plant, a sister concern of the NTPC, Jindal Steel and Power and Nalco lifted adequate quantity of coal from the Talcher Coalfields, Central-sector power major NTPC ironically failed to lift coal for its Kaniha Plant and, at the same time, reportedly halted operations of its one 500-MW unit in the last week of the fiscal citing fuel shortage.
This has been pointed out by the MCl in a Press release. The release said the Talcher Coalfields, where the NTPCs Kaniha Plant is located, has reported a 13.2-per cent increase of coal production from 53.8 MT to 61.2 MT in 2012-13. The NTPC Kaniha Plant is just three km from the Kaniha OCP of the MCl and receives coal through the MGR system and by railway wagons.
Since the Railways had allotted almost 100 per cent rakes to the tune of 1,334 against the programme of 1,364 rakes, the NTPC could only avail 1,047 rakes. Besides this, the MGR system of the NTPC from Kaniha OCP, which was planned to start functioning from 2008, has started with a single line this year (2013) only. More work is still awaited to be done to complete the MGR system.
Due to poor coal lifting by the NTPC Kaniha Plant, the coal stocks at the MCl Kaniha OCP alone have increased from 0.35 MT to more than 1 MT. This has adversely affected the coal production and forced the MCl to lose production to the tune of at least 1 MT as the company had to restrict its production owing to the piling up of stocks. Restricting production also becomes essential as the piling up of the fuel at the pitheads and sidings affects the calorific value of the coal, which is a valuable natural resource, the MCl release said.
There was never a shortage of coal in the MCl at the end of fiscal. While the Ib Valley Coalfields was having a stock of 10 MT, the Talcher Coalfields alone had a stock of around 8 MT, which even during rainy season had not gone down below 7 MT. Despite the MCl’s best efforts to increase availability of the fuel to its consumers, the NTPC failed to lift it for its Kaniha Plant, the MCl release rued.