PTI

Patiala, June 18

Power utility PSPCL said on Saturday that the cancellation of several trains due to protests against the Center’s Agnipath program is impacting the movement of coal for thermal power plants.

People familiar with the developments said the arrival of coal rakes has increased from around 20 rakes a day to eight rakes a day.

Chairman and CEO of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), Baldev Singh Saran, said: “The cancellation of various trains due to the ongoing protests is definitely impacting the arrival of coal at five thermal power stations in the state.

According to an official report, the stock of coal at the Goindwal thermal power station is almost exhausted while it is in critical category at the Talwandi Sabo thermal power station, which is left with stocks of less than four days.

The situation is a little better at the Lehra and Rupnagar plants, which end up with 16 and 17 days of coal respectively. The Rajpura thermal power station has enough coal for 23 days.

Official sources said the state’s thermal power stations were already reeling from tight coal supplies from Coal India Limited and the unavailability of enough rakes by the railways.

“The coal that was coming into the state was barely enough to sustain the day to day operations of thermal power plants and any further reduction in coal inflows can create problems for Punjab,” a senior PSPCL official said.