Hyderabad, May 18 (PTI) Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao Saturday demanded the Centre reduce cost of power production by bringing in changes in the way coal allocations are made.

The chief minister said he would take up the issue with the newly formed government at the Centre soon, according to a release from his office Saturday night.

After visiting the power plant being built by NTPC at Ramagundam in the state Saturday evening, Rao held a meeting with officials.

He said additional 2,000 MW of power be supplied from NTPC to Telangana in view of growing demand.

"The policy being followed by the Centre with regard to allocation of coal to power plants is not proper.

"Coal for Ramagundam NTPC plant is being used by bringing it from Mandakini in Odisha which is at a distance of 950 km, instead of taking coal from Singareni (state-run miner Singareni Collieries) which is nearby. This leads to increase in cost of production," the release quoted Rao as saying.

It also said Fertilisers Corporation at Ramagundam would start production this year. This was stated by the corporation's officials, according to the release.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)