Power stns within 20 km of mines take coal only by road: CIL

The Coal India Limited today said it wants power plants situated within 20 kms from pit-head of coal mines to take their entire coal requirement only by road from this fiscal.

The CIL has requested the Ministry of Power to prevail upon the power plants situated within 20 kms of coal mines to lift their entire requirement by road mode from 2018-19 onwards, the PSU said in a statement today.

This will increase availability of rakes for movement of coal to power plants located far from the mines.

The CIL and Railways through their coordinated efforts have increased rail loading from CIL's own sidings to sustain the spurt in demand from the power sector.

The CIL said it has loaded 243 rakes per day during April-May registering an increase of 23 rakes over the movement during the corresponding period last fiscal.

Besides enhancing dispatches through rail mode, power stations within the vicinity of 50-60 kms of the mines having FSA are being offered coal through road and rail-cum-road mode to be lifted by their own transport for further augmenting the dispatch.

Coal India has ramped up dispatch at the Dadri and Badarpur power plants located in the Delhi region to meet the sudden demand.

The CIL is now supplying at least 10 rakes of coal per day as against linked requirement of 7 rakes to mitigate the immediate spurt in power demand in the region, the statement said.