There won't be coal crisis for power generation: Union minister Pralhad Joshi
Bilaspur (PTI): Amid the country's power plants grappling with coal shortages, Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday assured that there will no crisis to meet the supply of coal for power generation.
He was talking to reporters after arriving at the Bilaspur airport before heading to neighbouring Korba district where he is scheduled to take stock of Gevra, Dipka and Kusmunda mines of the South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), a Coal India subsidiary, and chair a review meeting with officials.
Asked if the Congress was creating a hype claiming shortage of coal, the coal and mines minister said, I don't want to do politics over this. We have already been meeting the total requirement."
"Today, the requirement is 1.1 million tonnes of coal for power generation and we have already supplied two million tonnes. The stock is also rising because of it. I assure that there will be no problem in meeting the supply for power generation in the country," he said.
Joshi said he was going to visit the mines of SECL to take stock and hold discussions to expedite the production there.
As far as the requirement is concerned, the power ministry had put forth the demand for supply of 1.9 million tonnes (for power generation units) and after 20th (October), two million tonnes. Today only, we have supplied two million tonnes and rest of the things I will discuss after the review (of mines), he added.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) reviewed the coal supply and power generation scenario, as the government looks at ways to defuse the energy crisis being faced by several states.
The coal ministry has been asked to ramp up the supply of coal while the Railways has been asked to make available rakes to transport the fuel to power plants, sources earlier said.
The shortage of coal -- which makes up around 70 per cent of India's electricity mix -- has forced rotational power cuts in states from Rajasthan to Kerala.
About two-thirds of the coal-fired power plants had stockpiles of a week or less, but the coal ministry earlier said, "any fear of disruption in the power supply is entirely misplaced".
States have been forced to buy power from exchanges at high rates to meet the demand.
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BJP has history of ‘contradictory alliances’, says BK Hariprasad
Bengaluru: Congress MLC B. K. Hariprasad has launched a sharp attack on the BJP, accusing the party of hypocrisy over its criticism of alliance politics in Tamil Nadu.
In a post on X on Friday, Hariprasad said BJP leader B. L. Santhosh criticising the Congress party’s alliance politics in Tamil Nadu was “not just laughable, but the height of political contradiction.”
He said the Congress has always joined hands with like-minded parties to protect secular and democratic values in the country.
Hariprasad questioned the BJP over several of its past and present alliances across the country. Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tripura, Bihar and Maharashtra, he accused the BJP of sharing power with parties it had earlier criticised.
He alleged that the BJP had aligned with separatist and corruption-linked political forces in different states for political gains.
“The BJP, which speaks against alliances today, should first look at its own political history,” he said, adding that the party’s record was full of “contradictions and changing stands.”
Hariprasad also accused the BJP of using central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Department and CBI as political tools to target opposition leaders, topple governments and influence electoral mandates.
He further claimed that the people of Tamil Nadu had strongly rejected the BJP and its ideology in the recent election.
“Congress forms alliances to protect the Constitution, secularism and national unity, while the BJP enters into alliances only for power,” he said.
