Coal crisis: Minister blames Centre

Hyderabad: Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy on Tuesday made contradictory statement on the issue of impending power crisis. While rubbishing the scope for power cuts in Telangana on account of nation-wide coal shortage, the Minister said that there was a possibility of serious problem in the coming days due to the decisions taken by the Central government. He also suspected that the Centre was creating such a situation to privatise the power sector.

Addressing the media on Tuesday, the Minister made another interesting comment that the State has coal reserves that can last for another 200 years. But he did not give figures about the present coal reserves at the power projects.

He said there would not be a single minute of power cut in the State as the government had made necessary arrangements to supply uninterrupted power to Hyderabad city generated from the power plants across the State. Besides, a power grid has been set up to supply power from Hyderabad to other districts, he said.

The Minister further said that the power generated at Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar, Ramagundam, Bhupalapalli, Kothagudem and Manuguru would be sufficient for Telangana, adding that the requisite power of 16,000 MW is being supplied.