Telangana CM writes to Modi, seeks more power, coal blocks

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allocate power, coal and coal blocks to the State to meet its electricity shortage.
"Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has requested for allocation of surplus power from Eastern Grid to Telangana in view of severe shortage of power in the coming four months," a release from the CM's office said here.
"The State of Telangana, ever since its inception, has been experiencing acute power shortage. The situation is further compounded by the fact that the State of Andhra Pradesh, for reasons best known to them, is not honouring the provisions of the State Reorganisation Act and existing Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).

"The committee appointed by the Ministry of Power to look into the power sharing arrangements is yet to give its final report. The situation has only worsened and going to be severe in the coming four months - February-May 2015," Rao said.
He requested that at least 500 MW from surplus power available in the Eastern Region be allocated to Telangana.
A copy of the letter was sent to Union Minister of State for Power Piyush Goyal, the release said.

In a separate letter, Rao sought allotment of coal and coal blocks to Telangana in view of its power requirements.

"It is submitted that 2.5 MTPA coal is required for Kakatiya TPP Phase II. It was originally linked to Tadcherla-I coal block, which was subsequently cancelled in accordance with the Supreme Court judgement dated September 24, 2014.
"This coal block requires restoration as this is one f the blocks listed for allotment now. It is also submitted that there exists a supply gap of 4.50 MTPS for existing power plants, which require coal blocks allocation," he said.
"Further, Singareni Collieries Co Ltd (SCCL) is constructing a plant (2x600 MW) which would be operational by December 2015 for which 6 MTPA of coal is required. Another unit of 600 MW is being added to this, which needs 3 MTPA of coal," the letter said.

Rao said his Government has undertaken an ambitious project to add 4,200 MW additional capacity in the next four years for which coal requirement is 21 MTPA.