By IANS,
Kolkata : West Bengal is in the grip of severe power shortage, with Coal India subsidiaries stopping coal supply to the state power generation utility due to payment default. However, Power Minister Manish Gupta claimed the situation will improve in the next two-three days.
Coal delivery, especially from Eastern Coalfields Ltd., has been affected due to issues related to delay in payment.
Since the power generation utility did not have enough funds to buy required coal, it could not generate electricity to its potential, resulting in huge demand-supply gap.
“The West Bengal Power Development Corporation Ltd (WBPDCL) will pay Rs.60 crore to the ECL after a few days. The power scenario in West Bengal will be normalised in the next two to three days,” Gupta told IANS here.
Admitting that there were dues to the Coal India subsidiaries, Gupta said: “But we are making the payments. We paid Rs.70 crore before the puja. The chief minister, after getting the information (stoppage of coal supply by ECL), instructed us to send a missive to them (ECL). We are saying supply the coal, and we will make the payments.”
Informing IANS that the ECL has resumed coal supply to the power generation utility, he said, “Yesterday (Tuesday) we received 12 rakes (of coal) and expect to get the same quantity today (Wednesday). The quantity of coal supply will be increased gradually.”
West Bengal State Electricity Development Corporation Ltd (WBSEDCL) sources said in its area the shortfall was 725 MW Thursday, resulting in three-hour power-cut across the state.
The shortfall was about 1,000 MW Wednesday.