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Our Bureau

Kolkata, Aug 3 The Railway Board has asked the two zonal railways, namely, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) and the South Eastern Railway (SER), to rush coal to the Angul plant of National Aluminium Company (Nalco).

The metal production at the Angul plant has been hit by the drop in the plant’s captive power generation, caused by the non-availability of coal.

The ECoR has already started moving imported coal from Visakhapatnam port at the rate of one rake a day.

However, SER is yet to start movement because the Railway Board is yet to indicate the volumes to be moved and suggest the loading points. It is learnt that SER may be required to move coal from the mines of Bharat Coking Coal Ltd.

The coal problem has remained a matter of concern to the Nalco authorities for the past few months. To generate 700 MW of electricity a day, the Angul plant’s captive power generation system needs about 14,500 tonnes of coal per day.

Nalco has its own merry-go-round (MGR) rail transportation system linked to some of the Talcher mines of the Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd for the supply of coal.

However, for whatever reasons, Mahanadi Coalfields, for the past few months, has not been able to supply the required quantity from the mines linked to MGR.

The problem has been compounded by the fact Nalco does not have separate coal linkage for it because it never wanted such linkage. Worse, the railways’ suggestion to Nalco to hand over the MGR fell on deaf ears.

For more than a month since May, ECoR, responding to SOS from Nalco, transported coal to the Angul plant at the rate of half a rake a day on an average but only at the cost of other consumers having firm linkages.

The movement, therefore, had to be abandoned in the face of opposition from these consumers whose monthly linkages went up in the second quarter.

Right now, Mahanadi Coalfields is supplying about 8,500-9,000 tonnes a day, sufficient for the Angul plant to generate about 450 MW or so.

Gridco, Orissa’s power distribution agency, is supplying another 100 MW. The situation is now reverse.

Earlier, Nalco used to supply 100 MW to Gridco after meeting its own requirement.

More Stories on : Railways | Power | Coal | National Aluminium Co. Ltd | Aluminium

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