Coal India's dispatch to power sector up by 15%

Coal India Ltd (CIL) said the fuel dispatch to power sector grew by 15% in the April-May period of the current fiscal. CIL has requested the Power Ministry to prevail upon power plants situated within 20kms of coal mines to lift their entire requirement by road from 2018-19 onwards and to increase the availability of rakes for movement to power plants located far away from the mines, with the objective to increase the consumption of coal in the power sector. According to CIL, the miner and railways through "their coordinated efforts" have increased rail loading from miner's own sidings to sustain the spurt in demand from power sector. Besides enhancing dispatches through rail mode, power stations within the vicinity of 50-60 km of the mines having FSA (fuel supply agreement) are being offered coal through road and rail-cum-road mode to be lifted by their own transport for further augmenting the dispatch, it said. At the Dadri and Badarpur power plants located in the Delhi Region, CIL is now supplying at least 10 rakes of coal per day as against linked requirement of 7 rakes.