New Delhi: There is less than a day’s coal left in many power plants, Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain said Friday as the country grapples with a looming power crisis amid intense heat conditions.
Jain said: “The coal back-up should be over 21 days. We cannot function on a day’s back-up.”
He said electricity was being produced on a daily basis. “If we keep getting coal, there is no issue. But it will be problematic if power plants shut down. There is a huge coal shortage in the country,” he said.
The Delhi government had warned Thursday that it might not be able to provide uninterrupted electricity supply to important establishments in the capital, including Metro trains and hospitals.
Jain held an emergency meeting Thursday to assess the situation and wrote to the Centre to ensure adequate coal availability to power plants that supply electricity to the capital.
“Due to disruption of power supply from Dadri-II and Unchahar power stations, there may be a problem in 24-hours power supply to many essential institutions, including Delhi Metro and Delhi government hospitals,” a government statement read.
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)’s Dadri-II and Jhajjar (Aravali) were established primarily to meet the power requirement in Delhi. However, there is very little stock of coal left even in these power plants, the statement further said.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that several passenger trains have been cancelled to allow faster movement of coal carriages.
Coal generates about 70 per cent of the country’s electricity. Several parts of India have recently seen long blackouts and industries too have cut output due to the coal shortage.
And, north and central India continue to be in the grip of a terrible heatwave with the Met department seeing no let-up in coming days.
India Meteorological Department senior scientist R.K. Jenamani said Friday’s temperature in Delhi may rise 0.5 to 1 degrees and touch 46 degrees Celsius in some stations. “Some stations in Haryana may record temperatures over 46 degrees. Peak temperatures today will be in Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and western Uttar Pradesh,” he said.
He said high temperatures would persist here for the next 24 to 48 hours and announced a “yellow warning” for three days — 29 April to 1 May 1 — for western Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, western UP, MP and Jharkhand.
Jenamani said the situation was better in eastern India with temperatures dropping slightly from Friday in Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand. “Areas like Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Balangir and Angul (in Odisha) recorded 44 degrees Celsius yesterday. Temperatures will drop from tomorrow.”
The north will get some relief in the first week of May. Jenamani said: “From 2 to 4 May, Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab and Haryana will likely experience rain and thunderstorms due to advancing western disturbances. The temperatures on these days would be between 36 degrees to 39 degrees.”
Also read: Passenger trains cancelled in India to make way for coal amid power crisis