The coal supply from state-owned CIL to the power sector registered a sharp drop of 6.8 per cent to 377.86 million tonnes (MT) in the April-January period of the ongoing fiscal.
As per the data, the supply from the Coal India (CIL) to the power sector in the year-ago period was 405.61 MT.
The numbers showed some improvements in January as the coal supply from CIL jumped 2.9 per cent to 43.20 MT, over 42 MT in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal, it said.
Similarly, Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) also registered fall in the supply of the dry-fuel by 2.6 per cent to 44.03 MT, over 45.22 MT in the year-ago period.
Meanwhile, government official blamed rain as the ‘enemy of the coal sector’, a government official had earlier blamed extended monsoon for the loss of coal output for a few months (from July) in the current fiscal.
The state-owned firm had earlier said that it will produce 750 MT of coal in the next financial year.
Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi had said that the firm will further produce 1 billion tonnes of coal by FY2024.
The public sector undertaking has been given a target of producing 660 million tonnes of coal amounting to 82 per cent of the country’s coal output.
Joshi had said that with the demand for power rising steeply, there is enough opportunity for both government and private sectors to produce coal without adversely impacting each other.
(With input from agencies)