The two most powerful parties of Tamil Nadu- DMK and AIADMK, are battling it out with each other inside and outside the legislative assembly. The issue at play is a critical one- lakhs of tonnes of missing coal from Tamil Nadu’s power plants.
The mystery of Tamil Nadu’s missing coal:
The mystery of Tamil Nadu’s missing coal made headlines in August when Electricity Minister V. Senthil Balaji revealed that 2.38 lakh tonnes of coal, worth Rs 85 crore, went missing from the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited’s (Tangedco) North Chennai power plant.
Senthil Balaji had then alleged, “This has happened because of the inefficiency of the AIADMK government. We will set right the irregularities and provide a transparent administration.”
Later in September, Senthil Balaji made another shocking revelation- 71,857 tonnes of coal was missing from the Tuticorin thermal power station. The state government had ordered an inspection at the Tuticorin power plant following the discrepancy at the North Chennai plant.
The Electricity Minister had also said that based on the final report of the high-level committee, which investigated the coal stock discrepancy, action would be taken against those responsible for the irregularity.
The missing coal quantity was detected on the basis of the difference between the stock register and actual coal available at the plant. Senthil Balaji said, “We have to find out as to for how many years the irregularities had been taking place.”
Coal shortages were detected in the AIADMK-era:
Talking to The Hindu, former Electricity Minister and AIADMK leader P. Thangamani claimed that the “shortage” of coal was identified in August 2020 when he visited New Delhi for a meeting with the Union Power Minister. He said that he was apprised about the difference between coal stock shown and actual available coal. Therefore, he ordered an inquiry and also formed a committee.
Thangamani added, “Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic intensified and I became involved with party work for the Assembly election, so the issue could not be pursued further.”
No provision to assess coal shortages:
The situation is evidently grim at Tangedco’s thermal power stations. What adds to the confusion and chaos is the lack of a proper system to assess coal shortages at the thermal power plants.
In its 2021 report, the CAG said, “There was no provision for periodical assessment of coal shortages and recovery thereof. As a result of this, coal shortages occurring during the past 18 years (2001-19) have not been recorded. Thereby, the Tangedco was unable to assess the shortage of coal.”
Where is Tamil Nadu’s missing coal?
The biggest question here is how and why Tamil Nadu’s coal is disappearing. Now, as strange as it may sound, Tamil Nadu’s missing coal has less to do with quantity and more with quality.
Tangedco meets its coal requirements from a mix of domestic and imported coal. Domestic coal is sourced from four subsidiaries of Coal India and Singareni Collieries Company Limited., whereas imported coal comes mainly from Indonesia. Indigenous and imported coal stocks are then blended together and used in thermal power stations.
The efficiency of the thermal power plants ultimately depends upon the calorific value of the coal used in power generation. If the calorific value is higher, lesser coal will be needed to generate electricity and similarly, low calorific value coal would lead to higher coal consumption.
Jayaram Venkatesan, convener, Arappor Iyakkam observed, “This [missing coal] does not seem to be a direct theft of physical coal from the plant. This has got to do with the quality of coal. Imported coal needs to have 6,000 kcal/kg as per tenders, but only 4,500 kcal/kg of poor quality coal come in reality.”
When the thermal power plant uses a lower-than-specified quality of coal, additional loads of fossil fuel have to be burned in order to generate the same level of power output. Jayaram added that in order to hide the corruption in the quantity of coal, the additional loads used are not recorded. Therefore, the stock is used but not shown and this creates discrepancies between the coal stock shown and actual available coal.
TOI too quoted an unnamed logistics operator as saying, “It is difficult to do coal business legally in Tamil Nadu. By buying lower calorific value coal dust, they show it as higher calorific value coal in the books. Hence, they will end up using larger quantities of coal for combustion to generate power and naturally, it will go missing from the stockyard.”
A former Tangedco official however blamed Coal India for the stock loss crisis. The former official said, “Normally, Coal India would bill for high quality coal but supply only low quality coal. Moreover, all these years Tangedco has never bothered to take into consideration the loss that happens during transit.”
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Coal is emerging as a critical natural resource today, with a global rise in its price levels. At such a juncture, the thermal power plants in Tamil Nadu and the rest of the country ought to be extremely efficient in their operations and one would hope that the Tangedco power plants are able to resolve the mystery surrounding Tamil Nadu’s missing coal at the earliest.