New Delhi: Union Minister of Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi lauded state-run Coal India for clocking highest-ever single-day production on Saturday as India fights Coronavirus and asked all officials in the ministry to ensure critical coal supplies are maintained. "Proud that even amidst #COVID19, @CoalIndiaHQ is working in full swing to ensure uninterrupted electricity generation. Setting new records, it has achieved the highest ever single-day production- 3.5 MT coal. Congrats CMD CIL and his team," said the minister in a tweet.
While stating that coal supplies have been declared as an essential service, Joshi directed all the officials of the Ministry of Coal to work harder to ensure that critical coal supplies are maintained during the lockdown period due to COVID 19 pandemic so that power and other critical sectors are unaffected due to the current situation.
Daily meetings of all senior officers of the Ministry are being held for monitoring coal production, supplies and dispatch. Coal Secretary Anil Kumar Jain chaired the first review meeting through video conferencing on March 26. A daily report is being given to the Coal Minister on the outcome. As the Ministry of Coal is a fully paperless office, the entire staff is working on the e-office platform of the ministry or at home as per duty rosters.
Coal stocks at power plants stood at 41.8 MT, equivalent to 24 days' consumption, as on March 26. Joshi informed that various steps have been taken to ensure easy and adequate availability of coal to every coal dependent industry/power sector.
The Union Minister appreciated the work being done by Coal India Limited where all officers and workers are ensuring the coal production and supplies are not affected in these critical times. Joshi further assured that no approvals requiring the concurrence of the Ministry of Coal would be held up during the current lockdown period.
The news comes as just weeks after an official at state-run Coal India Limited (CIL) said that coal stock at thermal power plants had touched its highest-ever level at 39.48 million tonnes on March 11. Coal India supplies coal to 125 thermal power plants, out of which 134 are monitored by the CEA. "With coal stocks comfortably placed there should not be any shortage in the ensuing summer months," the official had said. Sufficient coal stock had led to a plunge in orders from thermal power plants, thereby increasing the coal stock with state-run coal miners.