Published Sep 24, 2026 | 9:41 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 24, 2026 | 9:41 AM
The Chief Minister's Office put the cost of supplying coal to Yadadri at about ₹40,000 crore.
Synopsis: Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has directed officials to secure coal from Mahanadi Coalfields and Coal India and restore full generation at the 4,000-MW Yadadri Thermal Power Station before Dussehra, after officials said the plant requires G9-grade coal that Singareni cannot produce. The decision follows the BRS announcement that it would send six party delegations to power stations and Singareni facilities.
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday night, 23 September directed the Energy Department to secure coal from Mahanadi Coalfields and Coal India and restore full generation at the 4,000-MW Yadadri Thermal Power Station (YTPS) before Dussehra, amid allegations by the BRS of a power shortage in state.
At a high-level review of the energy sector, Revanth Reddy directed Deputy Chief Minister and Energy Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka to take up the coal shortage with Union Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy. He also asked TGGENCO to restore Yadadri’s full generation capacity.
Officials told the Chief Minister that Yadadri’s units can operate only on G9-grade coal. Singareni Collieries cannot produce the grade and is not expected to be able to supply it in the immediate future.
Revanth Reddy asked why a plant that would be dependant on a coal grade unavailable locally was built. According to the Chief Minister’s Office, officials said the plant site had been selected away from the pithead for political reasons during the previous BRS government.
The Chief Minister’s Office also put the cost of supplying coal to Yadadri at about ₹40,000 crore.
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The review followed BRS working president KT Rama Rao’s announcement earlier on Wednesday that six party delegations would inspect thermal power stations and Singareni facilities across the State on Thursday.
Speaking at Telangana Bhavan, KTR said the teams would visit the Yadadri, Kothagudem, Bhadradri and Kakatiya thermal power stations, Singareni’s Chennur unit and its headquarters to assess the power situation.
He said checks at substations showed that farmers were receiving barely six hours of power a day, against the government’s claim of 24-hour supply. He accused the Congress government of concealing the situation and warned it against obstructing the BRS teams.
KTR said the “1980s trend” on social media was resonating because farmers were again facing shortages similar to those of that period. He said the BRS had repeatedly warned that a Congress government would mean the return of load-shedding.
He also alleged that Singareni’s supply of poor-quality coal to TGGENCO had caused a ₹2,900-crore loss to the exchequer, citing a newspaper report.
According to KTR, Singareni officials attributed the coal shortfall to ₹52,000 crore owed by the government. He said this had forced Singareni to reserve higher-grade coal for customers who had paid for it and send lower grades to GENCO.
KTR also repeated the BRS’s earlier allegation that 40 lakh tonnes of coal had gone untraced, putting the alleged scam at ₹1,600 crore. He asked why power plants were then facing a coal shortage after Minister Bhatti Vikramarka assured that no coal was missing.
He said Yadadri, with an installed capacity of 4,000 MW, was producing only about 400 MW, while a 270-MW unit at Bhadradri had been shut down completely.
He dismissed the government’s El Nino explanation, calling the crisis a manufactured “El Congo.” He alleged that it was not the nature but the ruling party’s incompetence and massive corruption that led to the power crisis.
(Edited by Dese Gowda with inputs from Sreshta Ladegaam)
