Ministry of Coal takes initiatives for supplying fuel to power sector

Minister of Coal Pralhad Joshi told the media that the government is taking initiatives such as diverting the output from captive coal mines to allow fuel supply to the power sectors. The development is expected to be significant during the shortage of coal in the country. According to a statement, the coal minister has taken several measures to augment coal supplies to the power sector and decided to divert the output and augment the coal supplies to power sectors from captive coal blocks. Captive coal mines include coal or minerals production to be used by the company that owns the block. The Minister offered the coal supply from Talabira II and III coal mines in Odisha to National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). The companies worked together to commence coal supply from Talabira II and III open cast project (OCP) to NTPC's Darlipali and Lara power plants. With the help of the Odisha government, coal supply to the Darlipali power plant was commenced within 24 hours from the Coal Minister's directives. NLC India Limited, under the Ministry of Coal, is operating the Talabira II and III coal mines with an annual capacity of 20 million tonnes in Odisha. NLC India Limited told the media that the company is trying to ramp up coal output to 10 million tonnes per annum in Odisha this year. It aims to increase coal production to 20 million tonnes per annum from 2022. The company said that it had taken initiatives to achieve the target of 6 million tonnes per annum from its previous 4 million tonnes per annum during 2021. Due to the high demand for coal, it is putting efforts to increase coal production in the Talabira coal mine to 10 million tonnes per annum for 2021 and 20 million tonnes per annum in 2022. It will provide fuel security to the power plant and also make coal available in the market. Image Source Also read: Coal shortages lead 13 thermal power plants to shut down ops