CIL refutes Nabha Power allegation of coal shortage

Kolkata: The claim of the Nabha Power to shut down its 750 mw plant at Rajapura in Punjab due to inability of the Coal India to offer coal is not true, a CIL official said on Saturday.

The L&T group firm Nabha Power closed its Rajapura plant on June 3 stating that it was forced to take the decision due to shortage of coal supplied by the CIL.

The CIL official said the Nabha Power should gear up lifting the allotted coal and rush it to its plant instead of blaming coal crisis for the shutdown of the plant.

The alleged crisis at the Nabha Power is the result of its own inept handling of coal procurement plans, as booking and lifting of additional coal allocated by CIL for the peak summer/paddy season was inordinately delayed, he said.

Nevertheless, the CIL and the Railways have attached priority for movement of coal to the power stations of Punjab, particularly to the Nabha Power. As on June 8, as many as 27 rakes of coal are in transit for the Nabha Power plant, he said.

Coal for this plant is linked to the SECL and normally supplies are in the level of 75 per cent of contracted quantity due to logistic problems.

But, it is a regular practice to meet coal requirement during summer and paddy seasons from other subsidiaries of the CIL, he said.

During the current fiscal, at the request of the Nabha Power, the CIL had allocated 3.64 lakh tonnes of coal to be lifted from the CCL and the BCCL for the period Apr18 to Jun18.

Out of this allocation, the Nabha Power has so far booked only 1.54 lakh tonnes. Due to delayed logistic arrangement of the Nabha Power, the lifting is paltry at 0.25 lakh tonnes, he said.

The shutdown has added to the woes of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), which is already short of 1,400 mw of power due to permanent closure of four units of the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant Bathinda and two units of the Ropar thermal plant, along with a reduction in the transfer capacity from the northern grid.

The CIL wondered how despite having a total generation capacity of 6540 mw in the state, Punjab is staring at the prospect of power shortage in the crucial summer and paddy sowing season.