Aluminium plants grappling with critically low level of coal stock: AAI

Aluminium plants in the country are grappling with critically low level of coal stocks and if the fuel supply is not restored immediately it would lead to irrevocable collateral damage, industry body AAI warned on Friday.

The statement comes at a time when the supply of coal by CIL to non-power sectors has been kept suspended temporarily amid electricity generating plants in the country facing fuel shortages.

"Today also, aluminium industry has not received any relief with respect to the ongoing coal supply crisis. Indian aluminium plants are grappling with critically low levels of coal stock, with no recourse or alternative means to meet their power needs and keep the plants operational," Aluminium Association of India (AAI) said.

It further warned that if coal supply is not restored immediately, it would lead to an irrevocable collateral damage of these national assets.

"Any power outage in aluminium plants will lead to catastrophic impact & complete shutdown which will take minimum 12 months of recovery, resulting in job loss of more than 8 lakh people. Banks will have debt exposure of over Rs 1 lakh crore and additional national forex loss of Rs 90,000 crore," it warned it a statement.

"Aluminium production is a 24x7, 365 days continuous process industry. There is no provision to switch off and switch on. It is highly power intensive industry, just to illustrate one tonne of aluminium requires 14,500 units of continuous power which is 15 times in comparison to steel...and 145 times as that for cement," it explained.

It further said that Coal India should immediately resume continuous coal supply to the aluminium industry to prevent closure of the plants, it added.