States across India are suffering due to the coal crisis leading to some states reporting three-four-hour-long blackouts in the summer heat.
In those extreme power outages in India during the coal crisis with some states suffering three-four-hour-long blackouts, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Andhra, Odisha are all reporting deficits of power vis-à-vis power consumption. Delhi says that some power plants in the Capital have only a day’s worth of coal left. Jharkhand and Odisha, known to be rich in coal are also struggling with blackouts in the heat and interruptions in services like the metro and government hospitals.
India has the fourth-largest coal reserves in the world and as of 1 April 2021, India had 352.13 billion metric tons (388.16 billion short tons) of the resource so the question arises, “Why the shortage?”
Should there be a coal problem?
Amid the crisis, there is criticism rising and sources say that none of the Center’s explanations for the coal and power shortages hit the mark and is not adding up. They also accuse the government which took no preventive steps to stop the severity of this crisis which was long foretold.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, “The wire between the ‘promises’ and ‘intentions’ of the Prime Minister was always cut. Modi ji, who will you blame for your failure in this power crisis? To Nehru? to state governments? Or the public only?”
प्रधानमंत्री जी के ‘वादों’ और ‘इरादों’ के बीच का तार तो हमेशा से ही कटा था। मोदी जी, इस बिजली संकट में आप अपनी नाकामी के लिए किसे दोष देंगे? नेहरू जी को? राज्य सरकारों को? या फिर जनता को ही? pic.twitter.com/fNDMz6rMt1 — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 30, 2022
The Congress supporters have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having “put the entire country in a power crisis today by giving coal mines and electricity to Adani.”
DARK DAYS ARE HERE !!!Power Minister RK Singh, makes a audacious statement "India has 21 million tonnes of coal in reserve stock at power plants, which is enough for 10 days" this is why modiji works for 18 hours😛#CoalShortage#CoalCrisis pic.twitter.com/Nn5FYSqVp1 — Sunitajadhav (@sunmor2901) April 29, 2022
It is said that India has reserves of 111.5 times in 2016 of its consumption so questions are rising about why is BJP talking about a coal shortage.
United With Congress shared:
8 years of big talk has resulted in India having only 8 days of coal stocks.@RahulGandhi’ji warned, Govt. proved him right.#CoalCrisis pic.twitter.com/Mewz2eWcoJ — United With Congress (@UWCforYouth) April 24, 2022
The “Story” Behind What Led to the Coal Crisis
Gautam Adani owns of the largest mining groups in the world. Currently, they are the largest coal importers in India, and Adani owns and operates three ports – Mundra and Dahej in India and Abbot Point in Australia. The Mundra Port is the largest private port in India. The Adani Group has been developing and operating mines in India, Indonesia, and Australia as well as importing and trading coal from many other countries. They also have extensive interests in oil and gas exploration. There are reports that the coal is being diverted out of the country, depriving coal in India. In fact, is it a coincidence that the Adani Group started coal export from Carmichael Mine (Australia) in Dec 2021 and India started facing coal shortage in early 2022!
In April 2022, many states canceled Adani’s bid for coal because of the Adani Group quoting high prices. In fact, despite available coal, why was there a need to quote the coal so high.
3. There is an inadequate supply to industries. Last week, several states urged the Centre to increase the coal supplied to them. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar claimed inadequate coal supply forced him to consider alternatives to bridge the supply shortfall of around 3,500-4,000 MW.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to keep their Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) and supply the promised 72,000 metric tonnes of coal a day to the Paradip and Visakhapatnam ports.
4. While there is supposedly plenty of coal, there is no supply. There are a total of 173 plants with 203346.5 MW, but plants with more than 25% normative stock of around 65 plants with 81399.5 MW. Anything below 25% normative stock is fall in the category of danger.
5. Other reasons are excessive rainfall, international price rise, COVID-19 pandemic, less production, transportation issues including freight rates, and high consumption were cited as the reason for the coal shortage. However, besides COVID-19, problems like this have existed previously.
Can India Handle This?
Data shows that as of 26 April, India had coal stocks at 21.44 million tonnes, 32 percent of the required inventory. Power plants across the country are struggling to keep up with the rising demand for electricity as they struggle with acute coal shortages. The situation is frighteningly similar to what occurred five months ago when India saw a power crisis in October 2021.
Delhi power minister Satyendar Jain said that in many places there’s just one day of coal left when they should have at least 21 days of reserve coal. This could cause blackouts and lead to interruptions in services like the metro and government hospitals.
To tackle the situation, around 42 passenger trains were canceled across India to facilitate faster movement of coal carriages to tackle critically low stocks at power plants in the middle of blackouts and outages in many states.
These trains are canceled indefinitely, Railways officials said today, with coal stocks depleting rapidly in thermal power plants. The Railways is trying to take steps “at war-footing” to transport coal and also cut down the time it takes to move coal to power plants, officials said.
The move (to cancel trains) is temporary and passenger services will be restored as soon as the situation normalizes, Gaurav Krishna Bansal, an executive director at Indian Railways, told Bloomberg.
Three Chhattisgarh trains that were canceled earlier have been restored after protests by local MPs.
Congress supporters are saying that for the first time in 70 years, India is in darkness due to a shortage of coal and says, “This dire situation is the work of the arrogant and incompetent Modi government.” which did not take preventive measures that led to eight-hour power cuts in the steamy summer heat.
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