NEW DELHI: The Indian Newsprint Manufacturers’ Association (INMA) has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to resolve persistent coal supply disruptions, while warning that irregular dispatches and inadequate allocations are hititng domestic production and threatening supplies to the print media industry.
In an urgent representation, the association, whose members supply newsprint to publications including The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, Navbharat Times and Punjab Kesari, asked for timely coal dispatches under existing fuel supply agreements (FSAs) with Coal India Ltd subsidiaries Northern Coalfields, Central Coalfields, South Eastern Coalfields and Western Coalfields.
Despite valid long-term agreements, mills are not receiving coal rakes on schedule, INMA said. Manufacturers have been forced to buy coal on the open market at exorbitant prices and use costlier grid electricity to keep plants running, it said, adding that they pay premiums for assured supplies. Prolonged delays, followed by bunching of several rakes, have strained working capital, coal handling, storage and transport, INMA said.