No coal scarcity in Odisha's power plants: CS

The states share in the NTPCs one unit was 400 MW per day.Delhi, Punjab and other areas are facing acute power outages as their thermal power plants are reeling under coal deficiency or hitting a snag due to increase in load capacity.The CS said that there has been a 10 per cent rise in demand for electricity in Odisha due to the prevailing heatwave.

The Odisha government on Saturday claimed that there was no coal scarcity in any of its power generating stations even as several states faced load shedding due to unavailability of the dry fuel.

Chief Secretary S C Mohapatra said that the state has sufficient coal and Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) has been directed to supply the fuel to power plants in the state on a priority basis.

''There is no coal crisis in Odisha like other states where power supply is being snapped for 10-12 hours a day due to shortage of coal. I have instructed the CMD of MCL to ensure proper supply of coal to the power plants in Odisha,'' he said.

Mohapatra said that prevailing load shedding in certain pockets of the state is a temporary phenomenon and the situation will improve by the first week of May.

He said load shedding in some areas of the state is not due to coal crisis, but because of sudden outage in an 800-megawatt (MW) capacity unit at NTPC's Darlipali plant in Sundergarh district. The state's share in the NTPC's one unit was 400 MW per day.

Delhi, Punjab and other areas are facing acute power outages as their thermal power plants are reeling under coal deficiency or hitting a snag due to increase in load capacity.

The CS said that there has been a 10 per cent rise in demand for electricity in Odisha due to the prevailing heatwave. The state's peak hour (7 pm to 11 pm) demand has been around 5,000 MW due to hot and humid conditions, while the production was at 4,899 MW.

The state has been managing the shortage by augmenting its hydro power stations. This apart, the state also purchases around 20 MW from the central pool even as it wanted to avail 200 MW for the summer season, an official said.

Another official in the Energy Department said NTPC's Darlipali unit will be repaired soon and another unit of Odisha Power Generation Corporation may be functional within a couple of days.

The state's power shortage can easily be met, he said.

Coal reserves in India's power plants have dipped by almost 17 per cent since the beginning of April. Coal-fired plants generate up to 70 per cent of the country's electricity, sources said.

Meanwhile, the Railways has cancelled 753 trips involving 42 trains to give priority to the passage of coal rakes across the country. A total of 713 trips of the South East Central Railway (SECR) have been cancelled till May 25 while 40 trips of the Northern Railways (NR) have been cancelled till May 8.