In line with government’s ambitious plan of supplying 24x7 power in country, railways has stepped up efforts to expedite rail connectivity projects for smooth coal movement required for power generation. Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda held a meeting with Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal and decided to accelerate execution of three rail lines key to transport 100 million tonnes of coal per year from remote mines located in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha.
Railway Ministry has committed to complete three crucial rail link projects by 2016 and has given instructions to concerned officers to comply with timelines for construction of these lines. These projects are Tori-Shivpur (44 kms) Shivpur-Kathautia (53 kms) railway line in North Karanpura in Jharkhand, Jharsuguda-Barpalli-Sardega railway line (53 kms) in Lb Valley, Odisha and Bhupdevpuir-Korichapan-Dharamjaigarh (180 kms) in Mand-Raigarh coalfield, Chhattisgarh. Though, the railway started work on some of these lines nearly a decade ago, the delay in land acquisition, environmental clearance and poor coordination between state and central governments have hampered these projects’ progress.
Coal-fired plants account for around 68% of India's total installed electricity capacity. Acute coal shortage in the country has become primary reason for power deficit in the country leading to frequent blackouts in north India including Delhi. Further, India’s gas based installed power capacity stands at nearly 8 percent at 20,000 MW of which around 6,000 MW is currently stranded because of unavailability of natural gas.