Mumbai (Maharashtra): Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Railway Board, VK Tripathi on Sunday said that the demand and consumption of coal this year have increased significantly in comparison to 2021. Tripathi's remarks came amid continued and increasing temperatures gripping Maharashtra thereby leading to an increase in demand for electricity and thus, coal. Many parts of the state reported temperatures over 41 degrees Celsius as part of ongoing heatwave, the India Meteorological Department informed in its daily bulletin.
Speaking on this development, Tripathi said told reporters today, "Demand and consumption for coal has gone up significantly in comparison to last year. So, we are transporting coal in higher quantities. We are operating extra coal rakes and on a higher priority than Mail and Express trains." "We can say there is a 20 per cent rise in the demand and consumption of coal from last year. In the month of April 2022, we have transported 15 per cent more coal than we did in April 2021," Tripathi said.
On April 29, the national weather agency IMD issued an "orange alert" for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra for four days as a heatwave sweeps through parts of the country. The IMD uses four colour codes for weather warnings wherein green means no action needed, yellow refers to watch and stay updated, orange means be prepared and red alert means take action.