New Delhi: The captive power plants in various sectors including steel and aluminium are facing coal shortages and if the situation does not improve soon, then it might lead to closure of several industrial units, creating unemployment on a large scale, INTUC National General Secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh said Wednesday.
“The captive power plants in various sectors including steel and aluminium are facing coal shortages. The priority is being given to independent power producers (IPPs) and not captive power plants (CPPs),” the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) National General Secretary told PTI.
Singh further said that “if our utilisation of coal is 100 per cent, then we are just getting 20 per cent… If this situation continues, then the small companies will reach a level where they will have to close down.”
Singh said that the situation has worsened in the past two months and made a plea to the government to give priority for supply of coal to the industries operating in the coal-bearing states, including Chhattisgarh, and then supply coal outside the states.
“We have also written to the Prime Minister and said that if coal demand of the industries operating in the coal-bearing areas are not fulfilled and instead the coal is supplied to industries outside the state, then the people may be forced to go on protest.
“So, first cater to the coal needs of the industries operating in the coal bearing states and then send the dry-fuel outside the state,” he said.
It is totally unjust that the industries operating in a state like Chhattisgarh are getting the coal from outside to meet their need and the coal produced in Chhattisgarh is being sent to Uttar Pradesh, he explained.
Moreover, on one hand the government is talking about sending coal to countries like Nepal and Bhutan and on the other hand the domestic industry is not getting the required amount of coal, he said.
“It’s not that less coal is being produced. Their (the government’s) policy is wrong… If this situation continues, in the coming days people might lose their jobs which might create unrest in every state,” he said.
Meanwhile, the government on Monday said the country’s dependence on imports to meet thermal coal demand has sharply reduced and stressed that in the next financial year, this demand will be met from Coal India, Singareni Collieries Company Ltd and captive mines.
The power ministry has projected a requirement of 727 million tonnes (MT) of domestic coal for coal-based power generation for 2022-23.
On Monday, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said that there is no shortage of coal in thermal power plants in the country. Even in 2021, coal stocks came down at thermal power plants due to evacuation issues, but there was adequate coal available in the country.
PTI
