ANGUL: After a shut down for four days, mining activities started in Talcher coalfield on Thursday following withdrawal of strike by Hywa owners’ association. All the nine coalmines at Talcher are functional now.
MCL sources said the State lost a revenue of `20 crore while the Centre’s loss was `60 crore in these four days. On Monday, thousands of drivers and helpers resorted to strike demanding payment of bonus which paralysed all the mega coalmines. Although they called off their strike on Tuesday following a meeting with Collector Anil Kumar Samal and MCL Director LN Mishra, owners of Hywa vehicles resorted to agitation, resulting in shut down of the coalfield. In a crackdown on the agitators, police on Wednesday night nabbed eight Hywa owners and released them on Thursday.
However, condition of both Talcher Thermal and Talcher-Kaniha power plants, owned by NTPC, continues to be critical.
According to reports, Talcher Thermal Power Station (TTPS) has shut down a 60 MW unit and regulated power generation due to acute shortage of coal.
The plant was facing coal shortage for the last three months due to short supply from Talcher coalfield. It was getting an average 7,000 to 8,000 tonnes as against the requirement of 12,000 tonnes per day. The short supply was caused by closure of the feeding coal mine owing to land problems. Making things worse were the strikes by drivers, helpers and Hywa owners. TTPS sources said the plant got 2,000 tonnes of coal on Monday, 3,000 tonnes on Tuesday and there was no supply on Wednesday. As a result, the stock plummeted to unprecedented low at 20,000 tonnes as against the normal three lakh tonnes. The plant got coal through land route on Thursday and supply through rail route is awaited.
Situation in 3000 mw NTPC-Kaniha also remains critical with the stock plummeting to a record low of 1,20,000 tonnes as against the normal seven lakh tonnes. The plant that supplies power to 17 States shut down two units (units 2 and 3) out of six due to want of coal. With another unit remaining out of service, only three units are currently in operation.
The daily generation, which should be 3000 mw, has come down to 1000 mw from the existing three units .The plant has total of six 500 mw units. “We got no coal since Monday from Talcher coalfield. So we were forced to shut down two units and regulate power generations from other units,” an NTPC official said.