ANGUL: The 1,200 MW Jindal India Thermal Power Plant Limited (JITPL) at Kaniha is facing a severe crisis due to low supply of coal.With the coal stock plummeting to an all-time low, the plant will soon have to shut shop if such deficit situation continues for some more days.
The independent power producer (IPP), having two 600 units, supplies electricity to Odisha, Bihar, Karnataka and the Indian Railways.Sources said JITPL gets coal from the nearby feeding Kaniha mine and others at Talcher. For the last several days, coal supply from Kaniha mine has been low. From Saturday, the supply was totally stopped from the mine. Normally, the plant draws 20,000 tonnes of coal from the mine. The low supply has forced plant authorities to use from the existing coal stock which has now reduced to below 50,000 tonnes against the normal of five lakh tonnes. The plant will be forced to shut down soon if the situation does not improve, the sources said.
A senior official of Kaniha mine said coal production has been low for the last several days due to strike by tippers. Moreover, there is an instruction from the Coal Ministry to give priority to NTPC power plant.