At a time when several states are struggling with power crisis due to shortage of coal, the Odisha government on Saturday claimed that no power plant in the State has shortage of the black mineral.
In response to queries of journalists, Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra said, “We don’t have the situation like in other states where power outages last for as long as 10-12 hours due to shortage of coal. We are fortunate that the coal mines are in our State.”
Mahapatra said that the State authorities had held a meeting few days ago to take stock of the situation of coal in the State.
"I had a discussion with the managing director of the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) with respect to coal situation in the State. I have directed him to make it sure that all the power plants should get sufficient supply of coal. As of now, no power plant in our State has shortage of coal,” said Mahapatra.
Notably, power generation at a unit of NTPC Darlipali power station in Sundargarh district has been affected for the last couple of days creating power shortage situation. According to sources, the Darlipali power station generates 800 MW of electricity, out of which Odisha gets 400 MW.