No shortage of coal supply to NTPC's Dadri plant: Govt

Says coal dispatches have been more than assured quantity

The government today said there is no shortage of coal supply to NTPC's Dadri power plant and Coal India has supplied more than the quantity committed.

"Coal India Ltd [CIL] has reported that dispatches to Dadri Power Plant during the period April-December 2012 have been more than 101% of the Assured Coal Quantity (ACQ) fixed for this plant. During January of this year also, coal dispatches have been more than the ACQ," an official statement said.

The statement comes in the wake of media reports that there were power cuts in the national capital due to shortage of coal to Dadri Thermal Power plant which majorly supplies power to Delhi.

Railways have also reported, the statement said, that since the beginning of the ongoing fiscal, the power plant has been getting more six rakes per days to meet the requirement.

"In January this year, till 8th, 51 rakes of coal have been loaded for supply to Dadri," the statement said.

According to the Coal Ministry, Dadri plant has a low stock of coal because of "higher generation of power and having made fewer imports."

However, it said, due to some technical problem for a very short period at CIL, coal supplies to the plant was affected.

"The problem has now been set right and normal supply has resumed...With the normal supply having been resumed from the sources of Coal India Ltd and the Railways also making adequate quantity of wagons for coal supply for Dadri Power Plant available, the position is likely to improve shortly," it said.

As many as 34 power plants in the country had fuel stock for less than a week as on December 30, according to the latest Central Electricity Authority (CEA) data.

As many as eight stations in the northern region, including Delhi, faced severe fuel scarcity mainly on account of inadequate availability of domestic coal, CEA said.

Meanwhile, the Power Ministry and Coal Ministry are working in tandem to deal with the problem of fuel shortage.

The long pending issue of signing of the Fuel Supply Agreements between power companies and CIL, which may solve the problem of shortage to an extent, would be done soon as has been assured by Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.