The coal crisis continues to hit Punjab as power cuts were imposed on Tuesday for the fourth day in a row, ranging from three to nine hours in a day. However, in a slight relief for power plants in the state, some coal rakes arrived in the last 24 hours and one of two units at GVK power plant at Goindwal Sahib, which had to be shut down on Sunday, revived its operations.
One unit at the government-run power plant in Ropar also resumed operations after the coal stock was replenished.
However, industry continues to suffer in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and other places. Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association president Badish Jindal said, “If there are scheduled cuts, then at least the industrialists know about it. But these are unscheduled cuts, which hurt not only the industrialists but even labour.” He added that though in dedicated industrial feeders there may be fewer power cuts, in mixed feeders, there are more.
“Here the state government is trying to play smart. If they announce scheduled power cuts, they will have to exempt fixed charges of the industry, which is a huge amount per day,” said Jindal. He even questioned the state government’s failure to ensure reserve coal for one month when the industry is paying advanced consumption deposit. “Now, since the cost of diesel and petrol has also increased in the past few months, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) is soon going to pass on this fuel cost adjustment to consumers and ultimately industrialists will have to pay. If not now due to forthcoming elections, they might charge us after the polls,” he added.

A prevailing sentiment among the industrialists is that if the state declares scheduled power cuts at least they can streamline shifts of labour otherwise they have to pay full day charges even if workers practically work for two to three hours because of repeated power cuts.
The Nabha Power Limited, Rajpura, plant has 2.3 days coal stock, Talwandi Sabo Power Limited in Mansa district’s Banawala village has stock of 1.7 days, GVK 1.3 days while the state-run power plant in Ropar has 3.2 days stock and the one at Lehra Mohabbat has stock for 2.6 days. To meet the current demand, the PSPCL has to purchase around 1600 MW of power from outside sources at a cost of Rs 14.56 per unit.
‘LOW LEVELS OF COAL INVENTORY’
Most of India’s coal-fired power plants have critically low levels of coal inventory at a time when the economy is picking up and fueling electricity demand. The power demand increased in the last two months. Coal accounts for around 70% of India’s electricity generation. Government data showed that on October 10, around 115 coal power plants, out 135 in India, had less than seven days of supplies left and 65 have coal stocks to last for two days or less whereas 17 thermal plants have nil stock. The coastal power plants, which rely on imported coal, cut back on imports in recent months following massive surge in international coal prices,” said AIPEF spokesperson V.K. Gupta.