Govt. exempts power & coal mining equipment from lockdown

The government has exempted movement of equipment used in coal mining, power generation and transmission from the current country-wide lockdown. In this connection the coal ministry had issued a similar notification on March 23, but coal mining operations had faced interruptions in certain parts of the country even after that and to prevent such issues, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an addendum to its earlier order on the lockdown under the Disaster Management Act, and clarified that coal mining and associated operations are exempted from such restrictions. According to separate notifications of the power and renewable energy ministry, exemptions have been granted from “Section 144, nationwide lockdown, or any other such limitations” to enable requisite manpower and ensure uninterrupted operations of power generating stations and electricity transmission networks. CIL has also extended the payment date for successful bidders buying through e-auctions. It is also said to be rescheduling e-auctions that were scheduled during the lockdown period. All under-construction renewable energy projects will be allowed time extension considering the period of lockdown and the time required for re-mobilization of work force, informed Aanand Kumar, secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The initiative was prompted by the fact that daily power demand in the country has fallen by a sharp 21% since March 16 with electricity requirement on March 25 being only 2,777 million units (MU), as most parts of the country are under shutdown due to which power usage on March 16 was 3,507 MU.