Brace for power cuts, Delhi told, as India's coal crisis hits home!

Tata Power arm Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (DDL), which operates mainly in northwest Delhi, has sent a phone messages to its customers to use electricity judiciously in the afternoon, referring to the ongoing shortage issue

New Delhi: India is staring at a coal crisis and things are starting to look grim in the capital and the rest of the country.  Coal shortage crisis seems to be deepening as a Tata Power arm operating in Delhi has sent phone messages to its customers to use electricity judiciously in the afternoon referring to the ongoing issue. Tata Power arm Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (DDL), which operates mainly in northwest Delhi, has sent the SMS (message) to its customers, a source said, as reported by PTI.

The SMS sent on Saturday stated, "Due to limited coal availability in generation plants across north, power supply scenario between 2 pm to 6 pm is at critical level. Kindly use electricity judiciously. Be a responsible citizen. Inconvenience caused is regretted - Tata Power-DDL."

Meanwhile, BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna, capital's other power distributors, reportedly have sufficient amount of fuel and will ensure smooth electricity supply. So no message has been sent from their side till now.

But Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has written to PM Modi.

Coal shortage | Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal writes to PM Narendra Modi, requesting the intervention of the latter's office for diversion of adequate coal & gas to power plants supplying electricity to the national capital pic.twitter.com/9BaJXvp7q4 — ANI (@ANI) October 9, 2021

Earlier last week, Power Minister RK Singh had admitted to the coal shortage at thermal power plants in the country and termed it beyond usual.
However, later he had also said that the power demand would be moderated in the second half of October and coal supplies will also improve at plants.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. Jagan Mohan Reddy has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's urgent intervention in view of the alarming situation in the state due to unfolding energy crisis. Voicing his concern over the coal shortage and poor finances of power distribution companies, he urged the PM to initiate remedial measures and monitor the power generation scenario on daily basis.

Also read: DNA Exclusive: After coronavirus crisis, will coal shortage now plunge India into darkness?

In a letter to Narendra Modi, the chief minister said it has become increasingly difficult for the state to meet the energy demand and the situation was pushing it towards load shedding. He stated that given the state's precarious financial situation, it was not able to purchase required power from the open market as the purchase prices have also shot up with growing demand.

Jagan Mohan Reddy urged Modi to direct the Coal Ministry and the Railways to allot 20 coal rakes to thermal power stations in Andhra Pradesh.

In Odisha,  the Utkal Chamber Of Commerce & Industry Ltd (UCCI), an association of industries, has urged the Odisha government to ensure adequate supply of coal to state-based industries which are facing an acute shortage of dry fuel to run their units.

There are 135 power plants in India which run on coal and of these, reportedly, 107 power plants have coal reserves for the next five days or less.  These are the figures uptil Wednesday, taken from the website of Ministry of Power. 

(With Agency inputs)