Our Bureau The thermal power plants’ demand for coal will be met by adequate supplies in the next financial year, said Piyush Goyal, Minister for Coal and Railways.

The Power Ministry has demanded 615 million tonne of coal and 288 rakes for thermal power plants in the next financial year.

Asked whether this demand will be met, Goyal said, “We are confident of meeting the coal demand for these power plants. This will be made possible as we can now get speedier environmental clearances for expanding coal mines.”

He was speaking at a press conference to highlight the performance of NLC India. On the rakes front, Goyal said, “We have 260 rakes right now and Coal India is going to source more rakes to meet the additional demand. In the next 5-7 years, Coal India will own all the rakes it needs to supply coal. This will ease the pressure on the Railways.”

Railway land

Goyal had earlier said that all vacant land of the Railways will be allocated to NLC India which will be tasked with setting up solar power generation equipment on it.

Responding to a query on its status, he said, “The Railway Board has decided to award the project through an auction. This will allow us a better price through competition.”

“The auction is likely to be conducted in two tranches of 1500 MW each and the RFP (Request for Proposal) will be issued in the next few days,” he said.

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