Enough coal in the country: Finance Minister Sitharaman rubbished the news about the shortage of coal, saying 'there is no shortage of coal in the country'

For a few days, talk of the shortage of coal in thermal power plants in the country is coming to the fore. Due to this, talks of power crisis are being said in some states of the country including the national capital Delhi. However, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that all these things and news are baseless and said that there is no shortage of coal in the country.

Plants have stock available for the next four days

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is on a visit to the US and a Harvard Kennedy School professor asked her about the coal shortage report in India. On this, Nirmala Sitharaman said that there is no shortage of coal in the country. The reports of coal shortage in the country are false.

India is a power surplus country. He said that Power Minister RK Singh had said two days back that completely baseless reports are going on regarding the shortage of coal. There is no shortage of anything. Every power generating plants have stock available for the next four days and all will continue to get electricity in the coming days.

Coal India currently has 22 days of coal stock

Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi said that Coal India currently has 22 days of coal stock and the supply is being increased. He said that we want to assure the whole country that coal will be made available as per the requirement.

No cuts due to power shortage in Delhi

The Union Power Ministry on Wednesday said that there has been no power cut in Delhi due to a power shortage. The ministry said in a statement that as per the information received from the power distribution companies (discoms) in Delhi, there was no power cut due to power shortage as they were supplied the required quantity.

Lack of coal reserves in thermal plants

According to data from the Central Electricity Authority of India, the country is facing a shortage of coal reserves in thermal plants, which could lead to a power crisis. As of October 5, out of 135 thermal plants using coal for power generation, 106 or about 80 percent were either in the critical or supercritical stage, i.e. they had stock for the next 6-7 days only.

India is the second-largest producer of coal

India is the second-largest country in the world in terms of coal production. According to the Global Energy Statistical Yearbook 2021, China is at the forefront of coal production. China produces 3,743 million tonnes of coal every year. At the same time, India is at number two by producing 779 million tonnes of coal every year. Despite this, India has to import 20 to 25% of its coal requirement from other countries. The reason for this is the high consumption of electricity in the country.