The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has criticized the Central government's directives related to coal imports for thermal power plants, stating that they impose an additional burden on coal-fired power units.

The Union Ministry of Power has issued a directive mandating that all thermal power plants, whether owned by state governments, the central government, or the private sector, should import 4 percent of their coal requirements by March 2024 to address the coal shortage in domestic coal-dependent thermal power plants. According to AIPEF, this directive comes in response to a gap of 2 lakh tonnes per day between coal consumption and supply in domestic coal-fired thermal power plants in August, driven by increased electricity demand.

AIPEF argues that the primary reason for the inadequate coal supply to thermal power plants is the constraints faced by the Railways. Therefore, burdening state thermal power plants with imported coal is deemed inappropriate by the federation.

AIPEF Chairman Shailendra Dubey suggests that the central government should bear the cost of imported coal since state power plants are not responsible for the situation. If the central government does not cover these costs, power-generating entities in the states will recover them from distribution companies (discoms), ultimately passing the burden on to consumers, which AIPEF deems unfair.