Congress MP Rahul Gandhi today alleged that the Centre's policies vis-a-vis coal production are hurting the power sector. He said that coal stocks are going to last not more than eight days in India.

"Eight years of big talk has resulted in India having ONLY 8 DAYS of coal stocks. Modi ji, stagflation is looming. Power cuts will crush small industries, leading to more job losses," the Wayanad MP tweeted.

The intense heatwave is said to have increased power consumption, resulting in shortages. Reporting on the issue, The Hindu wrote, "The country's largest coal producer and supplier Coal India Limited said it has upped its supplies by 14.2% to coal-based electricity generating plants in the first half of April, but soaring power demand seems to have dwarfed the upsurge in supplies."

A Livemint report has quoted Central Electricity Authority (CEA) data and said, "The 173 power plants under the CEA have a total stock of 22.57 million tonne, 34% compared to the normative requirement of 66.72 million tonne as on April 18."