Yet power sector does not have prescribed coal stock: Junior coal minister New Delhi, August 12: Maintaining that public sector behemoth Coal India Limited (CIL) has been supplying coal adequately to state-run thermal power units and the power sector crying foul on coal shortage was uncalled for, the coal ministry today decided to take up the issue of reported paucity of coal with the power ministry. The coal ministry will also seek a directive to NTPC to plant its requirements in advance and spell out the same wellin time. NACIL gets $214 million loan to buy 8 Boeings2004 crash: SMC Global coughs up Rs 15 lakh to settle caseAirlines get some relief with June growth figuresONGC to beef up security at offshore sites Coal Mines Best Travel Deals in India India Aiming at 4 45 Inflation FM "There is no coal shortage in the country. I will take up the issue with Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde,' said minister of state for coal Santosh Bagrodia, when asked whether he planned to take up the issue with Shinde to direct power utilities within his ministry to make accurate projections of their production needs. "We have repeatedly made it clear that power plants should have a coal stock position of 21 days, but none have got that stock, so there is talk of shortages,' the minister reasoned. Bagrodia, who reviewed the production and dispatch performance of coal companies along with CIL chairman P S Bhattacharya and coal secretary H C Gupta, ruled out any escalation of coal prices saying there is no room for a future hike in prices of the mineral. Stating that e-sale premium has been abolished from existing 5 per cent as decided in today's meeting, the minister argued that the move is aimed at ensuring availability of coal to all. CIL had been offering 15 MT every month but is was able to sell only 5 MT. "This explains that there is no coal shortage, otherwise why don't the power companies make a beeline for benefiting from these e-auctions?' Overall supply to power sector by CIL has shown a growth of 3.4 per cent during April-July this year over the same period last year. Overall, both CIL and Singareni Collieries have achieved 98.7 per cent of annual aggregate production dispatch targets to power sector utilities. In the case of NTPC plants, which are operating at relatively high plant load factor, CIL has achieved 106 per cent dispatch target up to July 2008. "Despite constraints, there has been a 6.4 per cent growth in coal production by CIL during April-July, 2008 as compared to the same period last year. Moreover, the coal companies are also carrying vendible coal stock of about 36 MT even after liquidating 11.5 MT of stocks in the last 4 months... No generation loss has been reported. "CIL is required to supply a planned target of 292.5 MT to power utilities in 2008-09, which is around 12 MT more than the quantity supplied in 2007-08. During April-July, 2008, CIL has already supplied 3 MT more than same period last year. CIL is confident of achieving its target of coal supply to power utilities in 2008-09,' he added.