Bengaluru: As the state’s thermal plants are facing a shortage of coal, a concerned Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has appealed to the Union Minister of Railways, Coal and Corporate Affairs, Piyush Goyal to ensure a constant supply of coal to the state for preventing a power crisis.
The CM, in a letter to the union minister on Wednesday, October 17, wrote that the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) currently has no stock of coal. This, he reasoned, was because the Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), a unit of Coal India Limited (CIL), supplied 6 Lakh MT of coal lesser than the quantity that was agreed upon by the two parties. He also requested that the deficit be cleared by another coal company named Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL).
From his official Twitter handle, the CM tweeted on Wednesday, “Coal Scarcity in State’s Thermal Power Stations: Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS)with 1720 MW capacity has zero coal stock. WCL,a Govtof India Coal Company has short supplied about 6 Lakh MT of coal to RTPS this yr agnst the Fuel Supply Agreement quantity resulting in this situation. (sic)”
In a follow-up tweet, he said: “I have requested Hon’ble Coal Minister of Union Govt Piyush Goyalji to make good this deficit from Mahanadi Coal Fields (MCL). I even requested the Hon’ble Minister that in the coming days, WCL shall ensure supply of FSA quantity in full for sustainable power generation in Karnataka. (sic)”
The RTPS is an 8-unit power station that requires 26,000 tonnes of coal daily. The plant has to resort to coal rakes when their stocks are exhausted.
