Telangana must use Ramagundam power: Kishan Reddy

Hyderabad: Despite the prospect of power demand being doubled by 2030, the Telangana government was not showing interest in availing its share of power produced at the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) plant at Ramagundam of Peddapalli district, said Union minister for coal and mines G. Kishan Reddy in a statement on Sunday. The Telangana government was not responding to the letters written by the NTPC management requesting to sign the power purchase agreements (PPAs) to buy the power, he alleged.

Kishan Reddy said the Centre has started building the Ramagundam plant with a proposed capacity of 4,000 MW, and two power units of 800 MW capacity each have already started production. Telangana was allotted 85 per cent of this 1,600 MW power, however, the state government did not respond to several letters written by the NTPC management requesting to initiate the PPA process to avail this power, the minister explained.

Despite the state government’s lack of interest in buying power from the plant located in the state, the Centre was determined to complete the construction of power units for the remaining 2400 MW capacity and achieve the full capacity of 4,000 MW. The TG Transco must sign PPAs with the NTPC to get the required coal allocation, he said. He urged the state government to think about the future power requirements of the state and sign PPAs with the NTPC.�