Power plants staring at a fresh coal shortage due to ‘rly bias'

Amaravati Power Plant Was 1st Victim Last Week

- Sanjay.Dutta

New Delhi: Coal shortage at power plants may appear to be over for the time being but the spectre of another crisis is lurking beneath the surface, especially for generation stations located far from mines. But unlike September last year, this time such plants — termed as ‘foreign’ by Indian Railways — are suffering due to discrimination in allotment of rakes and a free-for-all among railway zones in the race to post higher despatch figures.

Last week, the Amaravati power plant operated by RattanIndia Power Limited in Maharashtra became the first victim of the situation when it shut down one of its units due to coal shortage resulting from insufficient rake allotment by the SECR, the south east central zone of the railways.

The power ministry on January 17 issued an office memo seeking details of remedial action taken by the Railways as grumblings from private power plants facing similar situation grew louder, government sources said. Industry sources said L&T’s Nhava and Vedanta’s Talwandi Sabo power plants are among other plants facing similar predicament. These plants could not be contacted immediately.