Twitter
Advertisement

Power crisis: Minister RK Singh makes BIG statement

The Union Minister for power, RK Singh said a "panic has been unnecessarily created about coal shortage."

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

As India's national capital was given a blackout warning on Saturday amid the shortage of coal in power plants and increasing concerns about power in six states including Delhi, the Union Minister for power, RK Singh said that a "panic has been unnecessarily created about coal shortage." He said that panic has been created due to miscommunication between GAIL and Tata. 

Singh said, "We have sufficient power available... We are supplying power to the entire country. Whoever wants, give me a requisition and I will supply them. The panic has been unnecessarily created and the country has four days' reserve," a news outlet quoted. 

"Delhi will continue to get supply and there will be no load-shedding... The supply of domestic or imported coal will continue irrespective of the charges. Under no circumstances the gas supply will come down," the Power minister added.

Several states, such as Delhi, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu have flagged a shortage of coal at power plants this week and Punjab has already started rotational load shedding at several places.

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday saying that if the supplies did not improve, the national capital "could face a blackout" in the next two days.

Singh said that the panic in the nation about power shortage was created after GAIL (Gas Authority of India Limited) officials sent 'wrong messages' to distributors on the coal supply to get affected. He added, "They have been pulled up by me."

India has now four days of coal reserves after the quantum of coal was received on Saturday, Singh said, adding that the current reserve does not indicate that the nation will run out. 

"It is just a reserve. We keep getting the supply and this is just a back-up," the Ministry of Power said, quoted a news outlet. 

Singh said that the supply of coal routinely drops during the monsoon seasons as the mines get flooded while demand remains high. He added that the demands will drop in October whole stockpiles will rise. 

In October, as the demands drop, the stockpiles will start growing again. "Earlier, we used to have 17 days of coal stock from November till June," Singh said.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement