Even as daily coal consumption by the country's thermal power plants increased sharply, Coal India (CIL) allays the coal shortage apprehensions.

There is a 168 Million Tonne (MT) coal buffer to meet the summer demand.

Coal stocks at domestic coal-based plants stood at 47.6 MTs (as on 23 May) while the coal inventory at CIL's own mine heads at a comfortable level of 113.5 MTs (24 May) is ahead by 10% year-on-year. This level is sufficient to meet 19 days of consumption.

Added to this, around 3 MTs of coal is awaiting at transit points such as goods sheds, private washeries and ports. Rakes on Run, that is, coal in transit at any point of time is around 4 MTs making a total of 168 MTs of coal available in the system. Compression of coal stock levels at coal fired plants during peak summer is a natural occurrence rather than a supply-side crisis.

Along with coal adequacy, there is around 50 MT in-situ mine coal on tap, ready for quicker extraction and supply if the demand necessitates.

Of the 21 plants categorized under criticality (as of 20 May), 11 are domestic coal-based plants of which 7 source their coal from CIL.

CIL has been corresponding with power plants to build up their stocks for peak demand periods in advance, when there is ample coal, especially in case of the plants located at difficult logistic points. As such CIL has adequate quantity to meet the generation capacity of domestic coal-based plants.