The Government of India should allocate coal blocks in the Godavari catchment areas to Singareni under the reservation quota. This will allow Singareni to extract the remaining 1,422 million tonne coal of Godavari valley coalfields, said Telangana deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. Sharing the dias with union minister of coal and mines G Kishan Reddy at the launch of the tenth tranche of coal auctions, he urged the union minister to take up the coal block allocation issue with the Prime Minister.
“We are ready to approach the Prime Minister collectively with representatives from all parties. We urge you to do justice to Telangana and Singareni as a son of this region,” he said. There is a gap of 20 million tonne between the coal produced by Singareni and the demand.
The upcoming 4,000 MW Yadadri Power Plant, the 4,000 MW NTPC plant in Ramagundam, and another 800 MW plant being constructed by Singareni will all require about 24 million tonnes. It is essential to allocate new mines to Singareni to meet this demand, he said. The deputy chief minister pointed out that due to the amendment to the MMDR Act in 2015, Singareni, which had complete authority over coal reserves in this region, lost its lease rights and now has to acquire blocks.
Singareni was granted 44 mining leases covering 600 square kilometres in the Godavari-Pranahita valley area, with permission to extract 3,008 million tonnes of coal from 388 square kilometres. However, only half of this, about 1,.