Indian Thought Latest News & Views
New Delhi. There is a ruckus over the shortage of coal in the country. Now, quoting government sources, the news has come that due to the long monsoon and the increased price of foreign coal, this shortage has also arisen. When international prices were low, companies and state governments were buying coal from outside. Now that the price has gone up, the domestic coal is being looked at.
Sources also say that many states are not getting enough digging in the mines as well as they are not taking stock from Coal India even though a reminder was given for this. States like Delhi and Punjab had shut down major coal plants. The states have to pay the dues of Coal India 20 thousand crore rupees.
The Coal Ministry has been asking the states since last January to lift the stock from Coal India but no response was received. Coal India can also stock only up to a limit because coal more than a limit is prone to fire. There are coal mines in states like Jharkhand, Rajasthan and West Bengal, but mining is very less here.
The central government is fulfilling all the demands of the states. Coal stock has started rising in the last four days. Things will return to normal in a few months. There is no shortage of daily electricity and coal supply. The central government will increase coal production from 1.94 million tonnes to 2 million tonnes in the next five days. Despite the increased debt, the supply was not stopped to any state.
Earlier, Union Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi also said that there was shortage of coal due to rain, which led to increase in international prices by Rs 60 to Rs 190 per tonne. After this, the imported coal power plants either shut down for 15-20 days or started producing very little, he said. This put pressure on domestic coal.
In view of the coal crisis in the country, Union Energy Minister RK Singh and Union Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and discussed ways to increase the transportation of coal.
