
On 21st April 2022, the High Court of Odisha directed the Indian Railways to allocate rakes for the carriage of coal to the Indian state-owned integrated aluminium company Nalco. According to a report it was stated that Nalco is countering the coal shortage challenge and Odisha Govt. will find a solution to resolve it.
In an interim order, the High Court directed the East Coast Railways (ECoR) to take into consideration of four rakes allotments every day with the greatest importance to transport coal from Mahanadi Coalfields’ (MCL) Bharatpur mines to NALCO’s plant at Angul and if such a request is made by the aluminium producer.
The Central PSU officer’s body, Nalco Officers’ Association has proceeded to the HC seeking endeavouring a direction since the smelter is facing a high dearth of coal. However, on 25th April 2022, the next hearing of the matter will be taken up by HC. Nalco procures coal from MCL via three ways -- MGR (merry-go-round), railway rake and road transportation.

According to our sources, it has been notified since 1st April 2022, that there has been no rake supply from the railways. The sources further added that MGR and road transport are two means Nalco is receiving around 8,000 to 9,000 tonnes of coal per day. Now, this has turned into a severe coal shortage stirring the alert of CPP collapse.
Vinayak Jamwal, the PRO said, “MCL has sufficient coal stock of around 16.5 million tonnes at its pithead and there is no dearth of coal for our consumers.”
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