Odishatv Bureau

Bhubaneswar: There is absolutely no dearth of coal for power plants in the country, said Coal India Chairman, Anil Kumar Jha in Bhubaneswar today.

Jha informed that Coal India is presently having a stock of nearly 45 million tonnes and it is only due to logistics problems including lack of proper rail networks; stock is not reaching the desired locations.

Coal Indian Limited's subsidiary unit, the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) contributes nearly 25 percent of the entire production and 50 percent of the profit.

Jha further informed that the national daily average coal requirement of power plants is 14 lakh tonnes. At present, the power plants are having a stock of 10 days and efforts are on to increase the inventory by at least 22 days.

"Having coal has no meaning if it is not properly and timely transported. Hence, Mahanadi Coal Fields for the first time has set up a 53 km-long rail network by investing Rs 1,000 crore. Once the project is completed, it can also be used for commercial purposes as well," said Jha.

At present India is the third largest producer of coal after USA and China with an annual production of 700 million tonnes. China's total production stands at 3,600 million tonnes followed by 900 million tonnes in USA.

scrollToTop