Govt readies contingency plan for coal supply to NTPC plants

This is being done due to excessive rains in the Northern Coalfields area during the last few days

With the supply of coal being affected due to excessive rains, the government on Friday said that contingency plan has been drawn up to overcome the hurdles in dispatch of supply to NTPC's thermal power plants, including Rihand and Vindhayachal.

The government has drawn up contingency plan for coal based power plants at Anpara, Rihand, Singrauli and Vindhyachal affected due to excessive rains in the Northern Coalfields (NCL) area during the last few days, an official statement said.

"This unforeseen natural calamity has damaged roads, railway tracks and there is waterlogging in the open cast NCL mines. This has affected coal supply to Anpara, Singrauli, Rihand and Vindhyachal thermal power stations," it said.

Contingency plan has already been implemented to ensure that the power supply due to this is not affected. If required, states can get the supply from alternate sources and power exchanges, it added.

The Sub Group Monitoring Committee reviewed the coal supply situation which was affected due to excessive rains and has issued a contingency plan to overcome the hurdles in coal supply to the thermal power plants receiving coal from NCL.

"It has directed to the concerned agencies to put 6 numbers of Bogie Open Bottom Rapid discharge (BOBR) rakes in circuit for coal supply to Anpara and Singrauli thermal power station (TPS) till the merry-go-round (MGR) supplies to these plants are resumed," it said.

"In addition to it, 2 Box 'N' railway rakes per day each from BCCL, CCL and ECL subsidiaries of CIL (Coal India) are being sent to the Rihand and Vindhayachal units of NTPC as the coal for these units is diverted to the Anpara and Singrauli TPS," it added.

The imported coal stock lying at the port is also being moved to the Vindhayachal NTPC units. These pithead plants are designed to receive coal through MGR and therefore were facing difficulty in unloading coal through railway rakes. The coal supply is expected to improve in the next few days with the weather conditions improving.

The Sub Group Monitoring Committee consists of representatives of ministry of power, railways and coal besides Niti Aayog, CIL, and SCCL and is headed by Joint Secretary Ministry of Coal and reviews the coal supply situation to the power plants on a regular basis.