New Delhi: Allaying speculations regarding a shortage of coal for power generation, the Coal Ministry has said that it attained a record production of 661.54 lakh tons of coal in April.
Of the total 661.54 lakh tons, Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its subsidiaries produced 534.7 lakh tons of coal, production by Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) stood at 53.23 lakh tons and production from captive mines touched 73.61 lakh tons in April. Significantly, the Indian Railways is also repairing its old wagons to augment coal transportation to power plants. The railways said it has repaired 2,179 damaged wagons to carry more coal from mines to power plants at a cost of Rs 150 crore.
The railways have also increased their average daily loading of coal-carrying cargo trains to over 400 every day, which is the highest in the past five years. Meanwhile, as per the provisional statistics of the Ministry of Coal, while the total offtake of the coal sector was 708.68 lakh tons during the month, the power sector offtake touched the figure of 617.2 lakh tons in April. At the same time, offtake to the power sector from Coal India alone stood at 497.39 lakh tons.
“Coal India has achieved the highest production of 534.7 lakh tons during April this year indicating 6.02 percent growth. The previous highest ever production was recorded during April 2019 having attained a production of 450.29 Lakh tons,” a government statement said.