With as much as 130 GW of power plants running on dwindling coal supplies, and the average stock of coal in power plants being about four days as of Oct. 3, the issue of supply chain logistics for coal, especially in the monsoon season when transport of the fuel by road faces challenges, has taken centrestage again. In what is reassuring, however, state-run coal companies are in the process of implementing 39 first-mile-connectivity (FMC) projects, entailing an investment of around Rs 15,000 crore, to improve coal evacuation infrastructure and avoid such crises.
