Coal crisis hits India in hot summer months

India is currently facing coal shortage and the government is increasing production and scrambling to supply stocks across the country.

Power cuts in many parts of the country are being blamed in part on the coal shortage.  

State-run Coal India, which accounts for 80% of India`s coal output, increased production by 27.2% in April, the federal coal ministry said. Federal government-run Indian Railways has cancelled 753 passenger train services, the government said.

Central government is urging Indian states to increase coal imports for next three years in order to build up coal invetories, said Reuters.

Coal inventories are at the lowest pre-summer levels in at least nine years and electricity demand is seen rising at the fastest pace in nearly four decades.

Hundreds of trains have been cancelled in India in order to free up railway tracks for its transport to corners of the country.

"The government has decided to cancel ... passenger trains in order to prioritize the movement of coal rakes (trains) across the country to deal with an unprecedented shortage of the vital input at thermal power plants," the government said.

It did not say how long the train service would be cancelled for or how commuters would manage without it.

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Coal accounts for nearly 75% of India`s power generation and power plants account for over three-fourths of the over one billion tonnes of annual coal consumption.

(With inputs from agencies)