CHENNAI: Pointing out that lack of railway rakes at the Vallur power plant was affecting functioning of the unit, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Thursday urged Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to augment coal supply to the plant as it would greatly help Tamil Nadu to meet power demand during summer.
“ I request your personal intervention in this matter and instruct the authorities concerned to arrange for adequate supply of railway rakes to ensure uninterrupted supply of coal to NTECL Vallur Thermal power plant to manage the power demand”, the Chief Minister said in his letter to the Railway Minister.
The NTPC Tamil Nadu Energy Company Limited (NTECL) is a Joint Venture of Tamil Nadu Generation & Distribution Corporation Limited and NTPC Limited, a central public sector undertaking. NTECL has a 1,500 mw coal based power plant at Vallur. All the three units have declared commercial operation and Tamil Nadu has been allocated about 1,045 MW from the plant.
Panneerselvam said although the plant was capable of generating 1500 mw, at present the generation had been restricted on account of short supply of coal from the Mahanadi Coal field, Talcher in Orissa due to the limited availability of railway rakes. “I am given to understand that the Ministry of Railways is not able to provide enough rakes at Talcher coal mines. As a result, one of the units at Vallur is always under shut down,” he pointed out.