Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 31
The Union government has told the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) to import at least 6 lakh tonnes of coal to avoid shortage of coal for its thermal plants during the summer. In fact, the Union government has directed all power utilities across the country in this regard.

Sources said the Union Coal Ministry had informed the power utilities concerned that Coal India Limited would not be able to meet the coal requirements of various thermal plants during this summer and it should not be blamed for any crisis faced by thermal plants in this regard.

The sources said the PSEB had not placed any order so far with regard the import of coal. At present, the Lehra Mohabbat Thermal Plant had a coal stock of only three days, Ropar thermal plant of seven days and Bathinda thermal plant of 15 days. However, coal supply through rail would come down in the next few days because of the onset of monsoon in various parts of the country. In some parts of the country, especially in the Bihar region, the rail traffic was often affected owing to heavy rain.

Moreover, three-day stock at Lehra and seven-day stock at Ropar is very low. The PSEB thermal plants burn about 120 lakh tonnes of coal in a year. The MMTC will import 12.5 million tonnes of coal for the National Thermal Power Corporation.