The Centre has blamed the Maharashtra government for the present power crisis leading to the load shedding in the state. In a strongly worded rebuttal, the Ministry of Coal has claimed that Maharashtra is receiving more coal at present than in March this year.
Former Union minister Hansraj Ahir has alleged that "negligence" by the Maharashtra energy ministry was responsible for the shortage of coal at power plants.
The development assumes significance as the supply of coal is being prioritised to the power sector to replenish the dwindling stock in the wake of reports of an electricity crisis looming large.
There are not going to be any deficiencies that may lead to any shortfall of supply. So that takes care of India's power situation. We are now a power surplus country, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Asked if the Congress was creating a hype claiming shortage of coal, the coal and mines minister said, "I don't want to do politics over this. We have already been meeting the total requirement."