(FE)
State-owned miner Coal India Ltd (CIL) said power plants based in Tamil Nadu have received lower supply of the fuel against their respective contracted quantities mainly due to logistics problems in the rail-cum-sea route and mismatch between the requisition placed by its subsidiaries and wagon supplied by Indian Railways.
CIL said 12.6 million tonne of coal had been supplied to the Tamil Nadu state power generation corporation till January, 2019, against the 16.6 MT it was supposed to receive. “Frequent law and order problems in Talcher fields of Mahanadi Coal Fields” also contributed to the supply gap, CIL said. Nevertheless, coal supplied to the state has increased 12% annually, the miner added.
In a review meeting recently held here to map the progress of various schemes under the Union power ministry, Tamil Nadu had complained about rising power purchase costs stemming from coal shortage, as it had to resort to buying electricity from the spot market at higher rates in absence of coal at its power plants. The state purchased 379 million units of electricity from the exchanges in December, 283% more than the volume procured a year ago.
