- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Utkal Chamber of Commerce & Industry Ltd (UCCI), an association of industries in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, has urged the state government to ensure adequate supply of coal to industries located in the state as they are facing a severe shortage of the fuel to run operations.
The UCCI wrote a letter to Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday in which it said, “We would like to bring to your kind attention the current acute coal shortage situation in the state with many units having stock out or critical coal stock seriously affecting the viable operation of the industrial units.”
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It also said that while the suffering of small and medium-scale industries are rising every day, operations of large process industries like steel plants, aluminium smelters and others are likely to become untenable if the situation did not improve.
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The industry body even warned that the coal shortage could eventually deliver a big blow to employment of millions by paralysing the industrial operations.
Odisha has a huge coal reserve but yet its industries are facing a deficit in the dry fuel and forced to import coal/power as they are not getting adequate share of coal, UCCI president Brahma Mishra said, according to Press Trust of India.
The coastal state has about 25 per cent of the country’s coal deposits and Mahanadi Coalfields Limited produces 150 million tonnes of the fuel. Power plants based in the state require 90-95 million tonnes of coal every year, which is more than 60 per cent of Odisha’s coal production for cost-effective sustainable industry operations.
According to UCCI, 65 per cent of Odisha’s coal is being supplied to power plants in other states, which leaves the state facing a deficit and the local industries are forced to import coal/power, PTI added.
The industry body also said the situation is not only depriving Odisha from domestic value addition and creating local jobs but also endangering the state’s manufacturing sector which is discouraging global investors.
The UCCI has asked the state government to communicate with the Indian coal ministry to take necessary steps to fix the problem.
