
On 19th April 2022, the Odisha state government stated that it will endeavour a discussion with Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), one of the major coal-producing companies in India to solve the dry fuel crisis.

Prafulla Kumar Mallik, the state’s minister for Steel and Mines said, “I will hold discussions with the authorities of Nalco and also the MCL and ensure that the aluminium major's production is not affected due to shortage of coal."
The Indian state-owned integrated aluminium company, Nalco, whose authorities are close-mouthed over the crisis as both the mines and coal ministries are governed by one Indian Union Minister. However, several workers' unions of Nalco have awakened the trouble over the coal dearth at the Angul aluminium smelter.
Concurrently, the worker's unions jagged out that there are only 155,000 tonnes of dry fuel in the Nalco's stock against the normal reserve of 500,000 tonnes. The aluminium company’s requirement is around 19,000 tonnes of coal per day to functionalize its captive power plant (CPP) and also the aluminium smelter.
A protest by the driver’s association freshly has also adversely impacted the coal supply to Nalco, while a worker union leader at the smelter in Angul, said that the existing coal stock will last for only 5-6 days.
As per the agreement between the Nalco and the MCL which is valid till March 2023, where Mahanadi Coalfield is compelled to supply 47.16 lakh tonne linkage coal and 9 lakh tonne of bridge linkage coal annually. No matter how MCL supplied only 39 lakh tonne linkage coal and 3 lakh tonne bridge linkage coal in 2021-22.
Now due to the insufficient supply of coal to Nalco, the aluminium producer was stipulated to purchase 200 MW of power from the state grid every day from July 2021 to March 2022.
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