Centre's Decision to Auction Singareni Coal Mines Draws KTR's Ire

Telangana Industries and Commerce Minister K.T. Rama Rao expressed ire against the Central Government’s announcement to auction coal mines of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL). 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently assured people of the State that Sinagreni would not be privatized. However, the Centre has announced in Lok Sabha that four coal mines of SCCL will be auctioned, KTR said. 

Stating the economic significance of Sinagreni to Telangana, KTR said that SCCL’s privatization will adversely affect the State. He termed the actions of the Central Government as vengeful and a conspiracy to bring down the State which is flourishing. 

KTR said that SCCL stands top across the Southern States in generation of thermal power. He questioned the necessity behind Centre’s auctioning Singareni which is generating profits and has the best Plant Load Factor (PLF) in the country. The Minister said that the Centre was conspiring to push Singareni into losses.

He said that a large number of Lignite mines were allocated to Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) following the nomination method. KTR questioned the Centre as to why coal mines aren’t allocated to Singareni as it allocated Lignite mines to GMDC. 

The Industries Minister has pointed out Centre’s bias in implementing one rule for Gujarat and another for Telangana. 

Documents related to the process of coal mines allocation and environment clearances given to GMDC were produced by KTR. The Minister has reminded that from the time Telangana was formed, repeated requests of people of the State and SCCL workers to allocate coal mines were not considered favorably  by the Centre. 

Sharply criticizing the auctioning of coal mines, KTR said that TRS will launch an agitation if the Centre moves ahead with its plan to auction Singareni Coal Mines. He said that the party always stands by the employees’ protest against the conspiracy to privatize Sinagreni. 

He gave a call to Members of Parliament (MP) cutting across party lines to raise this crucial issue in Parliament.