(ET)
:Power supply to North India including Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal is vulnerable to disruptions as fuel supply to 4,200 mw of generation capacity that feeds these states has fallen sharply heightening the risk of a shutdown from events like heavy rain.
Coal India’s supply has fallen because the mine supplying coal to NTPC’s large plants in the east has almost run out of pit head stock, while land acquisition problems have stymied expansion. Coal India’s supply from Rajmahal mines in Jharkhand has fallen to 40,000 tonnes a day from about 55,000 tonnes. On a rainy day, the supply halves. At NTPC’s Farakka plant, stocks have plummeted to 4,000 tonnes from 2.5 lakh tonnes almost two months ago, said a senior NTPC official.
