Although Surat’s textile industry has been severely impacted by coal shortage in recent years, this monsoon season is not expected to cause problems for the city’s 350 mills. The South Gujarat Textile Processing Association (SGTPA) has received assurances from the Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) that there will be sufficient supplies of the fuel needed to ignite boilers in textile mills. The SGTPA and the GMDC met in the midst of worries about the current trend in the port city.
Attending the meeting were SGTPA chief Jitu Vakhariya and board members, including Vinod Agrawal. Around 350 textile processing and colouring facilities in Surat run their boilers on imported coal from Indonesia and lignite from Tadeshwar.
Sharing more details about the meeting, SGTPA chief Jitu Vakhariya said, “During the monsoon season, the industry faces problems of supply of imported coal, which is too costly and lignite supply also remains an issue. The GMDC takes out lignite from the project at Tadeshwar in Surat. During the rainy season, the mining activity stops. At the meeting today, officials assured that there would not be an issue with lignite supply this year as they have made surplus stock of lignite coal from the mines.”
He further added, “We have also demanded the rates of lignite coal should be reduced. The price of imported coal is Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 per tonne and its calorific value is between 5,200 to 5,500 while the price of lignite coal of Tadkeshwar is between Rs 4,000 to Rs 4,500 per tonne, and the calorific value is between 4,000 to 4,200.
