BHUBANESWAR: Power generation at Kaniha-based National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) has been severely hit owing to shortage of coal.
Four out of six units of NTPC have been shut due to lack of adequate supply of coal to the power generation unit.
While the plant requires Rs 55,000 metric tonne (MT) coal each day, it is only left with a stock of 4,000 metric tonne. At present, 15,000 metric tonne of coal is being procured from other mines to keep the plant running.
The sharp decline in power generation and coal shortage is mainly attributed to the ongoing agitation by workers at MCL’s Talcher coalfields. The workers have launched a cease-work agitation, protesting the mishap at Bharatpur open pit coal mining project in which at four persons were killed and over 10 others sustained injuries on July 23. Demanding a compensation of Rs 3 crore for the family members of the deceased labourers, the workers are staging demonstration in front of several mines of MCL since July 31.
The NTPC-Kaniha plant supplies power to as many as 17 states, including Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana Bihar and West Bengal. Shutting down four units have fuel apprehensions of power outage in these states.
