Jagan writes to PM on coal allocation to AP

: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday wrote to the Centre requesting allocation of Mandakani coal block of Talcheru in Odisha to Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Limited (APGENCO) to meet its thermal power plants requirement.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jagan requested the Centre to allocate the Mandakini coal block to APGENCO and coal blocks, preferably in Chhattisgarh and Odisha, with a combined annual capacity of at least 50 MMTA, to Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) and APGENCO, partly in the 6 and 9 Tranches of coal block allocation announced by the coal ministry.

Prior to state bifurcation, the linkage quantities particularly the supplies from Singareni Collieries Company Limited were being adjusted between all the thermal stations of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh to run the units as per the requirement.

After bifurcation, the SCCL mines were entirely given to Telangana and the new state of AP was not given share in coal reserves, the Chief Minister pointed out.

This has compromised the energy security of Andhra Pradesh and the 24x7 power supply as it was entirely dependent on coal linkages from other states, he added.

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 price unviable for use by AP. Further, the Ministry of Coal has notified coal blocks Tranche VI for allotment to government companies for generation of power under the Coal Mines Act, 2015.

APGENCO is adding an additional thermal capacity of 1600 MW from March 2020, the Chief Minister said.

In the letter, Jagan said the APGENCO submitted an application to the coal ministry for allotment of Mandakini-A coal block, Talcher coalfield in Odisha for upcoming projects with annual capacity of 7.5 MMTA and sought allocation of required coal blocks.