The Power Ministry will soon ask power companies such as NTPC to undertake additional mining at its captive coal mines. The additional coal is to be supplied to Coal India, which in turn will supply it to power plants facing fuel shortage.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal held meeting with the Association of Power Producers to discuss the coal supply issues. “We have explored the possibility to see if companies like NTPC have the ability to mine more coal and supply the coal which it cannot internally absorb at its power plants to Coal India, so that it can supply to power plants in need of the fuel,” said Goyal after the meeting.

The meeting was attended by Anil Ambani of Reliance Power, Prashant Ruia, Gautam Adani as well as power officials from various state governments.

Goyal also said that he would meet with Prakash Javdekar, Minister of Environment and Forests, next week to discuss the possibility of fast tracking environment and forest clearances for new mines.

“We all see the need for enhancing coal production,” he said. “For this, Coal India will have to mine more coal from its existing mines. We will also ask Coal India to provide linkage to companies which have the ability to generate additional power immediately.”

As on June 18, 48 out of 100 coal based power plants across the country had critical (seven or less than seven days) of coal stock.

Goyal said that the focus of the Government is currently on increasing coal production rather than restructuring Coal India.

“All options are open to the Government but a cosmetic restructuring of Coal India can’t help resolve the issue of coal supply and coal quality,” he added.

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