Telangana seeks coal allocation for new power projects

The Telanana government on Thursday urged the central government to ensure allotment of required coal for upcoming thermal power plants in the state.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao made the request to union Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal who called on him here.

He also urged him to ensure early completion of transmission corridor between north and south grids.

Goyal assured the chief minister that he would look into both issues, said a statement from the chief minister's office.

Goyal congratulated TRS government for supplying electricity without any cuts in its very first year in office. He also hailed the state's plans to generate 2,500 MW of solar power in one year.

KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, informed Goyal that Telangana government has already entered into an agreement to buy 1,000 MW from Chhattisgarh. He said another agreement would be signed soon to buy another 1,000 MW. He requested the government to take special interest in ensuring completion of transmission corridor so that Telanana can receive the electricity from north grid.

The chief minister briefed him about the steps being taken to make Telangana a power surplus state. He said Telangana Generation Corporation is setting up plants with a capacity of 6,000 MW while NTPC is building plants with capacity of 4,000 MW. He sought allocation of 29.70 million metric tonnes of coal for these projects.