Web portal to better track coal movement launched

The ministries of Power, Coal and Railways have formed a web portal to track the movement of coal from the coal mines to power plants. The portal is named PRAKASH — an abbreviation for Power Rail Koyla Availability through Supply Harmony.

Speaking at the launch event, Minister for Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs, Pralhad Joshi, said: “This portal will help avoid any blame game between ministries on the supply and availability of coal. It will also help coal better plan better coal supplies.”

“Coal supplies this year were disrupted because of unprecedented rains and strikes. Coal India has been increasing its supplies considerably and we expect to meet all demands of power plants,” he added.

Minister for Power and Renewable Energy (Independent Charge), RK, Singh said: “The ownership of this portal has to be shared and the ministries must assign officials to regularly update the data.”

This portal is designed to help in mapping and monitoring entire the coal supply chain for power plants, through coal stock at the supply end (mines), coal quantities/rakes planned, coal quantity in transit and coal availability at power generating station.

It aims at bringing better coordination for coal supplies among all stakeholders, namely the Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, Coal India, Railways and power utilities.

An official statement said a coal company will be able to track stocks and the coal requirement at power stations for effective production planning. The Railways will plan to place the rakes per actual coal available at siding and stock available at power stations. Power stations can plan their future schedules by learning about the rakes in the pipeline and expected time to reach.

COMMENT NOW