3 days on, no coal supply from Jharkhand mine
Umesh Dewan
Tribune News Service

Patiala, November 24
With Punjab not getting coal from Pachwara mines in Jharkhand for the last three days, the reserve stock in all the three thermal plants in the state has reached almost half of the ‘normative requirement’.

Normative requirement is the level of reserve stock that needs to be maintained by any thermal plant for keeping the generation going. Though not all plants are able to maintain the full normative requirement, alarm bells started ringing once the stock slips below the half mark (of the normative requirement).

Against the normative requirement of 30 days, the 920-MW Lehra Mohabbat thermal plant has coal stock left only for 13 days. Similarly, the 440-MW Bathinda thermal plant has coal stock left for 17 days whereas the normative requirement is 30 days. Likewise, the coal stock at the 1260-MW Ropar thermal plant is for 14.5 days, though the reserve should have been for 25 days.

The daily consumption of coal is 1,09,310 tonnes for the Bathinda plant, 2,87,100 tonnes for the Ropar plant and 1,80,620 tonnes for the Lehra Mohabbat plant.

At any thermal plant, coal stock reaches a critical stage whenever the normative requirement slips below the seven-day mark. The level touches super-critical point when less than four days of coal reserve is left.

The supply to Punjab has come to a complete halt due to protests, which are being led by former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi. He is demanding rehabilitation of those affected by the functioning of Panem Coal Mines Limited, a joint venture between Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and EMTA Coal, which supplies 7 million tonnes of coal to Punjab annually.

The protesters have blocked the approach roads from the mines to the railway station in Jharkhand and are also disrupting the loading of coal (at the railway station).

The Pachwara mines are PSPCL’s own captive mines. Apart from Panem, Punjab also gets supply from Coal India Limited.

EMTA Coal director Bikash Mukherjee had written a letter to power corporation stating that the ground situation was “very critical” and in case the issue was not resolved immediately, the coal supply to the thermal plants of Punjab will be severely affected.

PSPCL director (generation) GS Chhabra said, “We received Mukherjee’s letter on November 21 and it certainly is a cause for concern that there has been no coal supply to Punjab for the last three days.”

Chhabra said EMTA officials are holding talks with the protesters to resolve the crisis. “We have taken measures to prevent any major power crisis in the state. PSPCL has requested Coal India that supply from central coal fields to Punjab should be stepped up”, he added.