AP CM urges PM to allocate coal blocks

Hyderabad, July 29 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to allocate coal blocks to meet the coal requirement for thermal power units in the state.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Reddy urged him to consider the proposal of the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) for the allocation of the Thadicherla coal block II spread over Karimnagar and Warangal districts in the state.

He said ''our present power production is 80 million units per day while the consumption is 196 million units. Despite drawing power from AP Genco and other sources like private producers and the national grid to meet this demand, we are forced to resort to load shedding to manage a deficit of 22 million units.'' The Chief Minister said the state had been promoting various mineral-based industries such as Alumina, Aluminium plants, Titanium, Sponge, metal and steel plants. Besides new cement plants were being built even as existing units were stepping up their capacity.

''To meet the existing and potential demand for power in the years to come, we are promoting new thermal power units which require coal,'' he added.

UNI BR VA LS DS1256