As the demand for coal drastically declined due to the coronavirus crisis, the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL)’s coal dispatches fell by little over 50% in the past four months in the current financial year (2020-2021).
The SCCL recorded considerably low coal dispatches to the tune of 113.75 lakh tonnes during this period ending July 31 in the present fiscal, over 219.59 lakh tonnes of coal dispatches registered in the corresponding period last year, SCCL sources said.
The SCCL’s coal dispatches were hit due to shutdown of several of its coal consuming units, including cement factories and scaled down power generation in various coal-based power plants in south India due to coronavirus crisis.
The slump in demand for electricity due to the suspension of train services and closure of shopping malls, cinema theatres and other business establishments has led to sharp fall in demand for coal, sources added.
The coal output also took a beating by over 45% in the SCCL’s Kothagudem coal mining area predominantly due to the coronavirus crisis and to some extent owing to the 72-hour strike by various Central trade unions against the Centre’s move to auction coal blocks for commercial mining last month.
The Kothagudem Area comprising two each underground coal mines and OCPs achieved 22.5 lakh tonnes coal production as against the set target of 46 lakh tonnes in the past four months, sources added.
The coronavirus scare continues to cast its shadow on the attendance of the workforce in the underground coal mines in the Kothagudem region, which recorded a couple of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.
However, the SCCL officials are hopeful that the production will be back on track once the coal consuming units restore their full operations in the next couple of weeks.
