(ET)
Dues of power plants to Coal India increased to Rs 12,300 crore at the end of February from Rs 9,000 crore in May last year, prompting officials of the state-run monopoly miner to request the power ministry to intervene and help recover the amount. At a recent meeting with power ministry officials, Coal India executives said that the miner’s priority was to more than double coal inventory levels at power plants to 30 million tonnes from the present level of 14 million tonnes but they requested that the ministry should impress upon power plants to clear the dues at the earliest. According to the minutes of the meeting, the dues had continued to rise even as it was earlier proposed that outstanding dues be cleared within 90 days.
