Coal supply by CIL to power sector drops over 8 pc to 253 MT in April-October

The supply of coal by state-owned CIL to the power sector registered a decline of 8.5 percent to 253 million tonnes in the April-October period of this fiscal. Fuel supply by Coal India in the year-ago period was 276.8 million tonnes (MT), according to official data. The supply of coal to the power sector by CIL in October dropped by 19.3 percent to 33.8 MT, over 41.9 MT in October last fiscal. With torrential rains hitting coal production, Coal India had said that it was keeping a close watch on the current situation to ensure smooth supplies to power plants. CIL saw its output declined by 6 percent to 241 MT in April-September on account of monsoon.

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"CIL is gearing up to regain its production tempo and keep coal supplies to power sector going after the torrential rainfall across its subsidiaries dealt a crippling blow to the company's coal production and offtake," the company had said in a statement.

CIL had said that a team of officials is closely monitoring coal supplies to power plants and is working on plans to divert coal to fuel-starved plants. The state-owned firm had earlier said that it will produce 750 million tonnes of coal in the next financial year. The PSU will further produce 1 billion tonnes of coal by FY2024, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi had said.

The PSU is currently given the target of producing 660 million tonnes of coal amounting to 82 percent of the country's coal output. Joshi had said that with the demand for power rising steeply, there is enough opportunity for both government and private sectors to produce coal without adversely impacting each other.

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