Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal did not take any steps regarding import, 1081 trains canceled to remove coal trains

Union Power Minister RK Singh reviewed the steps taken by power generating companies regarding coal imports. Top officials of states and power generating companies were present in the meeting, including Alok Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Power.

Singh said, import of coal is necessary to avert the current energy crisis. Said that some states have taken appropriate steps in view of the power crisis, while some states are backward in this matter.

He told the representatives of the states that the imported coal should reach the power plants by the end of May. He also asked power companies to insist on increasing mining from the coal blocks allotted to them. He asked the states to use both rail and road mode for supply of coal to the plants, so that the shortage of coal in the plants could be met. The states which will not take coal within the stipulated time, that coal will be given to other states. After this the state itself will be responsible for the power crisis.

It was informed in the meeting that Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have placed import orders, while Punjab and Gujarat are in the final stages of issuing tenders. Whereas, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have started the tender process. At the same time, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand have not taken any step in this regard. Apart from this, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are lagging behind in terms of lifting the allocated coal. The Power Minister has advised these states to lift coal expeditiously, if these states are not able to lift coal within the stipulated time, then it will be allocated to other states.

1081 trains canceled to remove coal trains

In order to save many states of the country from blackout, railways is carrying out the work of transporting coal to power plants on a war footing. To meet the shortage of coal, loading and speed of goods trains have been increased. For their uninterrupted movement, Railways has canceled a total of 1081 passenger trains across the country. These include 753 (fares) passenger trains that were canceled on 29 April.

Amidst the deepening power crisis, the Railways has canceled trains on several routes till May 24 to avoid disruption in the movement of goods trains. These include 13 pairs of Mail/Express (Up/Down) trains of South East Central Railway. Similarly, 2 pairs of passenger trains are canceled in this zone. 479 trips of Mail/Express and 562 trips of Passenger trains will remain cancelled.

Chargesheet on the accused of earning 564 crores by selling substandard coal

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday filed a charge sheet in a special court in Chennai against six companies accused of duping them of Rs 564 crore by selling substandard coal to state-owned companies. All the six companies belong to the accused Ahmed AR Buhari.

The ED issued a statement, according to which the matter emerged from another CBI FIR. The ED registered a case against the accused in the money laundering case on April 29. He told that Ahmed Buhari was to supply coal of high calorific value (value of energy or heat) as per tenders of government companies.

He supplied coal of low calorific value. For this, fake samples and analysis certificates (COSA) should be made. Where the state-owned companies suffered losses, it charged higher prices for cheap coal and took advantage of Rs 564.48 crore. The ED said that among the six companies through which Ahmed had done this scam, Coastal Energy Pvt. Ltd. Chennai, Coastal Energy Pvt. Ltd. Chennai, CNO DMCC Dubai, CNO LLC Dubai, Precious Energy Holdings Ltd. British Virgin Islands and Mutiara Energy Holdings Ltd. Mauritius is included.