Indian government assures sufficient fuel supplies to power plants amid blackout concerns in Delhi

• India's Power Minister R.K. Singh said that sufficient fuel was being provided to power plants supplying Delhi.
• The central government's assurance came after Delhi's Power Minister Satyendra Jain spoke about the possibility of a blackout in the national capital.
• The Coal Ministry and CIL have assured that there is ample coal available in the country to meet the demand of power plants.

Delhi will not face any energy crisis as sufficient fuel is being provided to power plants supplying the national capital, Union Power Minister R.K. Singh said on Sunday after reviewing coal stock position in all thermal power plants including those supplying power to Delhi distribution companies.

The Central assurance came a day after Delhi Power Minister Satyendra Jain had said that if the coal supply didn't improve, there will be a blackout in Delhi in two days.

On October 9, the total despatch of coal from all sources (Coal India Ltd, Singareni Collieries, captive coal mines, and imported coal) was 1.92 million tonnes while the total consumption was 1.87 million tonnes, officials said. Thus, the coal dispatches have exceeded the consumption, thereby indicating shift to gradual building up of coal stock.

The Coal Ministry and CIL have assured that there is ample coal available in the country to meet the demand of power plants, and any fear of disruption in power supply is entirely misplaced. The coal stock at power plants is sufficient for more than four days' requirement and as the coal supply is being ramped up by CIL, the coal stock at power plant would gradually improve, they said.

Singh has directed that distribution companies of Delhi will get as much as power as requisitioned by them as per their demand. The NTPC and DVC have been directed to give full availability as per the requirement of discoms.

GAIL India Ltd has been advised to make gas available from all sources viz., APM, SPOT, LT-RLNG sources to gas-based power plants in Delhi. NTPC has also been advised to offer normative declared capacity to the Delhi discoms, as per their allocations from gas-based power plants under respective PPAs.

If any discoms is found to resort to load shedding despite being power available as per PPA, action would be initiated against them, the Power Ministry has said.

Despite heavy rains in the month of August and September, steep hike in power demand due to economic recovery, and increase in prices of imported coal, domestic coal supply have sustained the operation of power plants and all out efforts are being made to ensure full power supply to the discoms as per their requirements, a ministry statement said.

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