The Andhra Pradesh Government has requested the Centre and the Ministry of Coal to allocate additional coal blocks to the State-owned Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) to meet the growing requirement for coal to feed thermal power stations.

In view of the enhanced State’s economic activity in various sectors like agriculture, industrial, IT and infrastructure and to meet the ever-increasing demand for thermal power, the State has initiated a series of measures to address the power sector demand supply mismatch, including allocation of additional coal blocks.

The State has mentioned that Singareni Collieries could be allocated additional blocks keeping in view its operational excellence and also to reduce the burden of coal imports. Allocation of additional blocks to SCCL is also economical to the State and consumers, it said.

SCCL supplies coal to six major thermal power stations in addition to several small and medium enterprises.

As part of a long-term initiative, the State Chief Minister, Mr. N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, has written a letter to the Union Coal Minister, Mr Prakash Jaiswal, requesting for directives to allocate more coal blocks for Singareni Collieries.

The Chief Minister stated that allocation of coal blocks for captive mining purpose to various public sector undertakings would meet this requirement.

SCCL has identified several coal blocks and requested the Union Ministry of Power for allocation. These blocks are located in Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, respectively.

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