The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) will reportedly conduct a review meeting amid fears of coal shortage and increasing power cuts today. This comes after Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a meeting with Power Minister RK Singh, coal minister Pralhad Joshi and other cabinet ministers in charge of the coal and power ministries on Monday to discuss about the issue, reported India Today. 

Several states have reported the possibility of a major power crisis. Meanwhile, many have observed a shut down of power plants. 

The Maharashtra government has urged citizens to use power carefully and save electricity amid rising concerns. Nearly 13 thermal power generation plants responsible for supplying power to MahaVitaran, the state power distribution company, have been shut down, due to shortage of coal.

Maharashtra State Electricity Regulatory Commission (MSEDCL) has appealed to the citizens to be cautious, the energy department said, “Due to shortage of coal, 13 sets of various thermal power plants supplying power to MSEDCL have been shut down at present. As a result, 3330 MW power supply has been cut off. Efforts are being made to provide power supply from hydropower and other sources, including emergency procurement, to fill the power gap.”

“MSEDCL is making strenuous efforts to prevent load shedding in the state and has appealed to consumers to use electricity sparingly from 6 am to 10 am and from 6 pm to 10 pm to balance the demand and availability,” the statement added.

On the contrary, as per ANI report, Power Minister RK Singh on Sunday said in a statement that India has coal reserves for another 4-5 days and further warned GAIL and Tata Power against “acts of irresponsible behaviour” that created “unnecessary panic” among people regarding power cuts due to coal shortage.

The minister said, “Yesterday [Saturday] evening I got a call from Delhi L-G. He told me that Delhi CM has written a letter to him regarding power crisis. In Delhi, power supply is as per demand and will be done in future also.”

He called the panic “baseless” and said it was because of GAIL that the issue started when it sent a message to Delhi discoms about stopping the supply due to the end of contract. “I have instructed that supply should not stop in any case. There is no crisis anywhere; it’s an unnecessary crisis.”