Rajasthan coal crisis: On the 5th of October, the nation celebrated Dussehra with great pomp and show. With that the season of festivities has kicked in and every household, enterprise and organisation is planning to make their festive seasons grand. But not all seem to be up to their task in lighting happiness in every household in the coming festive season.
The state of affairs in Rajasthan are as bleak as it was during the gory attacks on Hanuman Jayanti processions and other festivities. Developments suggest that the state is heading towards intense darkness during the Diwali festivities. But the focus of the Gehlot government seems to be elsewhere.
Imminent Power Crisis in Rajasthan
The state is facing acute shortage of electricity. 11 out of 23 thermal stations within the state have stopped production due to the shortage of coal (Rajasthan coal crisis) supply. As per an internal assessment of the Rajasthan Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (RUVNL), the state is facing a massive shortfall of 4,910MW.
As per officials, the festival season will increase the power demand in the state but on the contrary its power production capacity is going down drastically. If the current dismal trend continues, the power distribution companies (discoms) will be forced to resort to prolonged load-shedding across the state. The peak power demand in this Diwali period is expected to touch 17,757MW. But the power generation of the state has come down to meagre 12,847MW.
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In the garb of Diwali maintenance, households are facing long power cuts. The situation has been worsening for at least 17-18 days but the state administration seems to be in a deep state of slumber. Instead of accepting the problem of power shedding due to supply-demand gap, it is giving false pretexts of maintenance.
An official said, “To operate all the power plants in Rajasthan at full capacity, 37 rakes of coal are required daily. Earlier, Rajasthan was receiving 20 rakes daily which has now reduced to 14.”
In fact, the Power department and entire government has been violating the Central guidelines for more than a year now. As per the guidelines of the Central government, there should be at least 26 days of reserve coal stock. Contrary to that, all the 6 thermal power plants in Rajasthan have only 4 days of average coal stock left with them.
Incompetent and careless Departmental officials are being considered responsible for this looming problem.
Rajasthan imported its bulk supply from Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh
Reportedly, Rajasthan gets its bulk supply of coal for power generation from Parsa Kanta coal block in Chhattisgarh. But the political incompetence and surrender of Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government to the Climate-fascists have worsened this power and coal crisis in Rajasthan.
The Baghel regime banned mining in the extension block of 841 hectares in Surguja, Chhattisgarh. Mining in the area has been stopped due to the opposition of NGOs, local politicians and internal opposition within the Chhattisgarh government itself.
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It is to be stated that politicians of the day have reduced everything to confrontational politics. They always shift the blame of their alleged wrongdoing or misgovernance or even outright politics on their ideological opponents. But in this case, the blame for this acute power crisis in Rajasthan, has to be shared equally by both the Congress governments in power in these states.
Coal Crisis in Rajasthan and Possible way forward
As stated, the Power crisis was always in the making. The Gehlot administration had sufficient time to avert darkness over the state during Diwali festival season. But the CM instead of making a power sharing agreement with other states or Centre, was trying to ride two boats – in Rajasthan and in National politics at the same time.
For example, Nepal made a power exchange mechanism with Bihar and Uttar Pradesh during the same time. Under this mechanism, the two countries can buy power from each other as needed. As per the mechanism, Nepal’s state-owned power utility body is planning to buy up to 365MW from Indian power traders. The nation is ensuring sufficient power to meet its domestic demand in the peak time of winter. It will help light up Nepali homes with Indian energy in winters.
Claims by the Government
As the coal crisis is on a steady rise, the Rajasthan energy department claims to have prepared three contingency plans.
First, the state discoms will renew a 380MW power supply contract with Coastal Gujarat Power Ltd. It will purchase power at the rate fixed by the central government.
Second, up to 1,500MW electricity will be borrowed from power companies in Uttar Pradesh based on the ‘Electricity Banking System’.
Third, officials are also working to finalise a plan to procure power up to 300MW through a ‘term ahead’ arrangement instead of adopting the traditional tendering method.
This is not the first incident where misgovernance and appeasement politics of the Gehlot government has marred Hindu festivals. The Rajasthan government didn’t crackdown on violent radicalised hordes that bloodied the festivities during Hanuman Jayanti this year. Further, during Navratri, Zonal Police banned from hosting religious festivities in the highly revered Hinglaj Mata Mandir. The current state administration is notorious for its temple destruction spree. If the current trend continues such blatant misgovernance and tarnishing Hindu festivities will cost the party dearly.
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