Hyderabad: The coal stocks at thermal power stations in Telangana are gradually declining as Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is under pressure to increase supplies to other states to meet the shortage there.
Telangana thermal power plants had coal stocks for 10 to 15 days last week which have now come down to just 5 days. These plants have agreements with the SCCL, in which the state government is the major stakeholder at 51 per cent while the rest of the 49 per cent stake is held by the Centre.
A few states have been claiming unused coal quotas now from the SCCL that were allocated in previous months. Energy minister G. Jagadish Reddy said on Tuesday that the power situation in the state was not alarming as of now but the Centre was trying to push Telangana into crisis by diverting Singareni stocks to other states.
“There is no scope for coal shortage in Telangana as Singareni is ensuring adequate supplies to our thermal plants. If Telangana faces coal and power shortage in the coming days, the Centre should be held responsible. Telangana has abundant coal reserves which can meet the needs for the next 200 years. The problem will come only if the Centre diverts coal stocks from here to other states," Reddy said.
SCCL directors S. Chandrashekar and N. Balaram told media persons that the company was supplying 1.5 lakh tonnes of coal amounting to 86 per cent of the total 1.90 coal production per day to thermal power plants.
The SCCL has FSAs (fuel supply agreement) for coal supplies with TS Genco thermal plants, APGenco plant in Muddanuru, Maharashtra Genco Parali plant, Raichur KPCL-Karnataka, Mettur plant in Tamil Nadu, NTPC Ramagundam and Singareni thermal plant.
However, the SCCL officials allayed apprehensions of a coal crisis in Telangana as the company is committed to ensuring adequate coal supplies to power plants in the state on a priority basis.
Thermal plants in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka did not utilise their Singareni coal quota allocated for a period from April to June this year. These states are now seeking their unutilised quota now.
Thermal plants in Maharashtra meet 70 per cent of their coal needs from western coalfields. Due to coal shortage there, the pressure on the SCCL increased to enhance supplies to Maharashtra. The pressure on the company further increased due to supplies to Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan.
SCCL chairman and managing director N. Sridhar is on leave from October 11 to 17 at a time when there is severe pressure on the company for coal supplies, further fuelling speculation that he went on leave unable to bear pressure from the higher-ups at Delhi-level to arrange adequate coal supplies to other states.
