AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, November 5. He appealed to the Central governmnet to allocate Mandakini coal mine at Talcher in Odisha to the Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Limited (APGENCO) thermal plant.

AP CM has clearly mentioned that Andhra Pradesh was not even given a minimum share of the coal reserves after the partition of the state. YS Jagan reiterated that AP state is heavily dependent on other states for coal.

YS Jagan said that the AP Genco thermal power plants has the capacity of generating 5010 MW. He even said that the state government has contracts for getting coal supply from Mahanadi Coalfields limited and Singareni Collieries Company Limited. Before the state Bifurcation AP Genco thermal power plants used to get the required coal from Singareni Collieries Company Limited. After the partition of the state, Singareni Collieries were allotted to Telangana. Andhra Pradesh was not even given a small reserves in coal.

YSR Congress Party president said that AP rely heavily on coal coming from other states which made the state's electricity sector unsustainable. And this became a huge hindrance for continuous supply of electricity for twenty-four hours. He further added that neighboring Odisha state has enormous coal reserves.

AP CM said that the IB Valley, and Talcher have huge coal reserves. Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Telangana states have surplus coal reserves. One coal mine in Madhya Pradesh for commercial purposes and one coal mine in Chhattisgarh has been allocated to the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC). As per the central governmnet decision AP state can take take 5 MMTAs from each mine. But the cost of extracting coal from these mines is very high, said YS Jagan.

YS Jagan said that Union Coal Ministry has allotted Tranche-6 for the use by APGENCO in accordance with the Coal Mines Act-2015. By March 2020, APGENCO is planning to add another 1600 MW of power through its thermal plants. For this additional power generation, 7.5 MMTA of coal is required annually.

AP CM said that to avoid the current shortage of coal, more coal is to be supplied under the coal contracts. YS Jagan requested PM Modi to allocatet Mandakini A Coal Block, Talcher Coalfield and Angul Coal Fields to APGENCO.

YS Jagan reminds PM Modi in his letter that the Union Coal Ministry has announced that it will allocate at least 50 MMTA coal per annum to APMDC and APGENCO from Odisha and Chhattisgarh and requests the PM Modi to keep the centre's promise to AP government.

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