Andhra Pradesh CM writes to PM requesting allocation of Mandakini coal block to APGENCO Thermal power plants

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting allocation of Mandakini coal block to APGENCO Thermal power plants.

An official release from the chief minister's office said, "In his letter to Prime Minister, the Chief Minister has requested to allocate the Mandakini Coal Block to APGENCO and the coal blocks, preferably in the states of Chattisgarh and Odisha with combined annual capacity of at least 50 MMTA, to APMDC and APGENCO, partly in the 6" and 9" Tranches of coal block allocation announced by the Ministry of Coal and partly in the future allocations."

"In his letter, the Chief Minister said that prior to state bifurcation, the linkage quantities particularly the supplies from M/s. SCCL were being adjusted between all the thermal stations of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh to run the units as per the requirement," the release added.

"The Chief Minister said that after state bifurcation, the SCCL mines were entirely given to Telangana State and new state of Andhra Pradesh is not given share in coal reserves; it is entirely dependent on coal linkages from other states. This has compromised the energy security of the new state of Andhra Pradesh and the 24x7 power supply," the press note said.

"Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) is given one coal block in the state of Madhya Pradesh and one in Chhattisgarh of 5 MMTA each for commercial purpose. The logistics cost from these blocks make the coal cost unviable for use by A.P. Further Ministry of Coal, GOI has notified coal blocks Tranche VI for allotment of coal mines to government companies for the purpose of own consumption for generation of power under the coal mines Act 2015. APGENCO is adding an additional capacity of 1600 MW from March -2020," he added.

The Chief Minister told that considering the above, APGENCO had submitted an application to the nominated authority, Ministry of coal for allotment of MANDAKINI-A Coal block, Talcher Coal field, Angul, Odisha for the upcoming projects with annual capacity of 7.5 MMTA, the press note added.