Meeting underway on power crisis after some states face irregular coal supply

New Delhi, May 02: A meeting is underway at the residence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah likely on power crisis, with Power minister RK Singh, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi. The meeting comes amid power cuts being reported from several states amid heatwave.

With several parts of northern India reeling under hot pre-summer months, the country's power demand has peaked to a record high in decades.

In Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party government has already claimed that there is a an acute coal shortage.

"There is an "acute shortage" of coal due to the unavailability of an adequate number of railway rakes and there may be "difficulty" in electricity supply if power plants are shut," Delhi power minister Satyendar Jain had said.

Union power minister RK Singh expressed displeasure at Delhi Government for misleading public with incorrect information about power situation in Delhi. In reply to Delhi Power Minister's letter expressing concerns about coal stock position of some NTPC stations supplying power to Delhi, Mr Singh said, the figure in Delhi minister's letter was incorrect.

The Minister further said that Thermal Power stations of Dadri, Unchahar, Kahalgaon, Farakka and Jhajjar have sufficient reserve coal stocks for 5 to 8 days. He added that the stocks are replenished on a daily basis - both from domestic sources and coal imported for blending purposes. Mr Singh added that NTPC has been declaring 100 per cent availability from Dadri and Unchahar power stations.

The Minister said it is reprehensible that panic was sought to be created by using wrong figures. He further highlighted that in October last year, a panic was sought to be created amongst the people about disruption of power supplies on the basis that gas supply to Delhi's gas based plant was likely to be disrupted which proved to be baseless.