PIB Tracker973 million tonnes, allotted in 2015, and still not a single tonne mined
The Ministry of Coal answered media reports of a power shortage in Uttar Pradesh by putting the state's own idle captive block on the record, and by noting that the plants are running at 48 per cent load with stock rising.
What happened
- The Ministry of Coal issued a fact-based rebuttal to media reports of a severe power shortage in Uttar Pradesh caused by disrupted coal supply.
- As on 15 September 2026 no UPRVUNL thermal plant was in the critical-stock category; stock rose from 7.25 LT (1 Sep) to 8.41 LT (15 Sep), with receipts of 0.90 LT/day against consumption of 0.83 LT/day.
- The Saharpur Jamarpani block, Dumka district, Jharkhand, holding over 973 million tonnes, was allotted to UPRVUNL on 13 August 2015 under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015.
- More than ten years later no progress has been made on it, while fourteen other captive power blocks allotted on or after the same date are operational and producing.
- Current-month plant load factor is about 48 per cent despite stock above 8 LT; the Ministry attributes lower generation to operational constraints, not coal availability.
For Prelims
- Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015: the statute under which Saharpur Jamarpani was allotted on 13.08.2015; it followed the Supreme Court's cancellation of earlier allocations and put allotment and auction on a statutory footing.
- Captive coal block: a block allotted to feed a specified end-use plant rather than for sale. Fourteen such power-sector blocks allotted on or after 13.08.2015 are already producing.
- Saharpur Jamarpani: in Dumka district, Jharkhand, allotted to a Uttar Pradesh generator - a block in one state feeding plants in another, reserves over 973 MT.
- UPRVUNL: Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited, the state generation company; its stock stood at 8.41 lakh tonnes on 15 September 2026.
- Plant Load Factor: actual generation as a share of maximum possible at full capacity. UPRVUNL's current-month PLF is about 48 per cent.
- Rake: a full trainload of coal. CIL supplied about 17.7 rakes a day to UPRVUNL plants over the preceding ten days.
- RCR mode: rail-cum-road despatch, offered by CIL to all Gencos and IPPs on 3 September 2026 to build plant stock beyond rail capacity.
- 16th auction round: launched the same day, offering 25 blocks across nine states - 147 mines auctioned since commercial mining opened in 2020.
For UPSC: A rare case of the Union publicly attributing a state utility's performance to that utility. Use it on cooperative and competitive federalism, on energy security and fuel linkage, and on why installed capacity and allotted reserves are not the same thing as delivered power.
What it is NOT: The release does not say that Uttar Pradesh has no power shortage - it says coal stock at the plant end is not the cause, which is a narrower claim. It gives no reason for the 48 per cent plant load factor beyond unloading constraints, names no UPRVUNL official or decision that stalled the block, and offers no estimate of when Saharpur Jamarpani could produce if work began now. Nor does it say what, if anything, the Ministry can do when an allottee simply does not develop a block.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS3.9 · GS2.2 · Linkage L2
Anchor
Federal disputes over electricity are usually argued as supply questions and are often capacity questions. The Ministry of Coal answered a shortage story not by promising more coal but by publishing stock that was rising, generation that was falling, and a 973 million tonne block the complaining state has held undeveloped since 2015.
Substantiation (data)
Stock at UPRVUNL plants went from 7.25 lakh tonnes on 1 September to 8.41 lakh tonnes on 15 September, with daily receipts of 0.90 lakh tonnes against consumption of 0.83 lakh tonnes and about 17.7 rakes a day arriving. Over the same month the plant load factor sat at roughly 48 per cent. Fuel was accumulating while turbines were idle.
Comparison
Fourteen other captive blocks allotted for power use on or after 13 August 2015 have been operationalised and are producing. Saharpur Jamarpani, allotted on exactly that date with reserves above 973 million tonnes, has not moved. The control variable is the allotment regime; what differs is the allottee.
Counterpoint
The Ministry is an interested party in its own rebuttal, and a state might fairly reply that a block in Dumka requires Jharkhand's land, forest and rehabilitation clearances that Uttar Pradesh cannot deliver by itself. The release does not engage that possibility, and an answer that treats it as settled is taking one side of a federal argument on that side's evidence.
Position
Fuel security devolved to states through captive allotment transfers the asset without transferring the capability to develop it. A decade of inaction on a nine-figure tonnage suggests the binding constraint in Indian thermal power has shifted from availability of coal to execution capacity at the state utility.
Conclusion
The same Ministry launched its 16th commercial auction round the same day, 147 mines in six years. The auction machinery works; the allotment made outside it, to a state that did not use it, produced nothing in ten years. That contrast is the argument for competitive allocation, and it is available in a single day's record.
Deploys into: Centre-state relations in the energy sector · Energy security and fuel linkages · Public sector efficiency and state utilities · Resource allocation: auction versus allotment
Ministry of Coal · 2026-09-17 · PRID 2311178 · PIB source ↗