The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
Coal Shortage Crisis: Modi Government must Discharge its Responsibility
The Modi government seeks to deny its role in the massive shortfall of electricity generation that has hit the country. Currently, severe power cuts are extending to many hours in Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Bihar and Punjab, while many others, including Maharashtra, Kerala and Delhi, are staring at impending blackouts. According to CEA (6th October Report), this failure has led to 16 power plants with a generation capacity of 16,880 MW having zero days of coal stock. Another 76 stations of 97,819 MW capacity have less than four days of coal stock. The rise in the price of coal in the international market from $60 per tonne to $180-200 has also compounded the problem, e.g., with Tata’s Mundra station, which depends on imported coal shutting down their plants.
India has enough coal and mining capacity to meet its demand. The problem of not having coal with the power stations is simply one of a lack of planning and incompetence. The Modi government failed in its fundamental task of coordinating between the power and the coal ministries and now wants to instead make Coal India a scapegoat for this failure. The country is paying for the government’s incompetence in handling simple issues of inter-ministerial coordination and planning.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that the Modi government discharge its responsibility and urgently resolve this coal shortage crisis.