Bottlenecks in coal supply remained high on the agenda of the conference of Power and New and Renewable Energy Ministers of States and Union Territories held here on Thursday.

Tamil Nadu sought measures to improve the supply of domestic coal to the State. It said, “The supply of Domestic Coal from coal companies is far less than requirement and Tangedco is being forced to import coal.”

Coal India Ltd and the Railways have been requested to supply 72,000 tonne of coal and allot 20 rakes on daily basis to Tangedco to avoid power outage in the State, said the Tamil Nadu representative.

Bihar too demanded coal for its power projects. In its representation, the State said that the Pirpainti-Barahat coal block situated on the Bihar-Jharkhand border has been allocated in-principle by the Coal Ministry for the 4000-MW Ultra Mega Power Plant in in Kakwara village.

The State has requested the Power Ministry to take up with the Coal Ministry for formal allocation of the block at the earliest.

An assured coal block for its UMPP was on Jharkhand’s agenda too. The State asked the Centre to support and supplement the efforts of the State government in expediting transfer of Special Purpose Vehicle and the re-bidding/selection of new Developer for Tilaiya Ultra Mega Power Project.

“The allocation of Kerandari Coal block for Tilaya UMPP by the Ministry of Coal may be expedited,” the statement added.

Karnataka said that it was facing shortage of a power due to non-availability of coal to Raichur, Yeramarus and Bellary Thermal Power Plants.

“The total installed capacity of Raichur, Yeramarus and Bellary Thermal Power Plants is 5020 MW,” said the State’s representative.

“The coal requirement for the above plants from December 2017 to March 2018 is 55.29 lakh tonne whereas the anticipated coal supply is 40.68 lakh tonne. Due to reduction in coal supply from allotted coal mines, the power availability from thermal generation will be reduced by 1,500 MW,” the statement added.

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