Demand, consumption of coal increased significantly this year in comparison to 2021, says Railway Board Chairman

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer CEO of the Railway Board VK Tripathi on Sunday said that the demand and consumption of coal this year have increased significantly in comparison to 2021Tripathis remarks came amid continued and increasing temperatures gripping Maharashtra thereby leading to an increase in demand for electricity and thus coal Many parts of the state reported temperatures over 41 degrees Celsius as part of ongoing heatwave the India Meteorological Department informed in its daily bulletinSpeaking on this development Tripathi said to the reporters today Demand and consumption for coal has gone up significantly in comparison to last year So we are transporting coal in higher quantities We are operating extra coal rakes and on a higher priority than Mail and Express trainsWe can say there is a 20 per cent rise in the demand and consumption of coal from last year In the month of April 2022 we have transported 15 per cent more coal than we did in April 2021 Tripathi saidOn April 29 the national weather agency IMD issued an orange alert for Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh and the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra for four days as a heatwave sweeps through parts of the countryThe IMD uses four colour codes for weather warnings wherein green means no action needed yellow refers to watch and stay updated orange means be prepared and red alert means take actionIn April Union Minister of Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi said that the Centre is continuously taking many steps to increase coal production in the country citing Indias coal production has increased to 777 MT and offtake of 818 MT in the financial year 202122The countrys coal production was just 566 MT in the FY 201314 while it has increased to 777 MT and offtake 818 MT in the FY 202122 under the Modigovernment But Rahul Gandhi does not understand these figures because he is a fool If he is so fond of making predictions then he should at least once tell the future of his own party Joshi further saidSeveral states of India have been reeling from power outages due to the coal crisis in the country Coal India Limited has reported an increase of 272 per cent in its output in April 2022 as compared to the yearago period the Ministry of Coal on FridayThe demand for power has risen in April due to heatwave and people in different parts of the country are facing power cuts The problem has been accentuated by a steep rise in prices of imported coal due to the RussiaUkraine conflict and some power plants not operating to their full capacityAmid reports of a dip in coal stocks with thermal plants Joshi has said that the countrys thermal plants hold about 22 million tonnes of coal which is enough for 10 days and replenishment will be done continuouslyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever