Union Ministers discuss measures to enhance efficiency in coal transport to power plants
Apr 25, 2022
New Delhi [India], April 25 : Amid reports of coal shortages faced at power plants in the country Union Minister for Power RK Singh on Monday met Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to discuss measures to enhance efficiency in coal transport to power plants.
Singh urged all stakeholders at the Centre and state level to work hand in hand for an unhindered power supply, the Ministry of Power said in a statement.
The minister urged the Power Gencos to own freight rakes under the scheme of the Ministry of Railways to deal with logistic constraints in coal supply.
Issues discussed included increasing operational efficiency for loading and unloading of coal, increasing the percentage of rakes allotment for the Power sector, and other logistics issues.
Power Secretary Alok Kumar, Coal Secretary A K Jain and senior officials from the Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal and Ministry of Railways were present during the meeting.
Representatives from Coal and Power PSUs and states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra also joined the meeting virtually.
Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Railways said it has deployed additional rakes to transport coal to power plants.
To ensure a swift supply of coal across power plants, additional trains and rakes by Indian Railways have been initiated to augment the transportation of coal through its network, the Ministry of Railways said.
Indian Railways has ramped up the coal transportation resulting in 32 per cent more coal freight loading between September 2021 and March 2022. There has also been an increase in 10 per cent freight, by efficiently mobilizing resources after April 2022, the ministry said.
During the year 2021-22 Indian Railways augmented the transportation of Coal through Railways by a record 111 million tonnes and loaded a record 653 million tonnes of coal as compared to 542 million tonnes in the previous year, registering a growth of 20.4 per cent.
During September 2021 to March 2022 period, the loading of coal to the power sector was augmented by 32 per cent.
