The decision of the Centre to privatise four coal blocks belonging to the Singareni Collieries, the major coal mines of Telangana, has given yet another weapon to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi to attack the Centre.
On Monday, state industries minister K T Rama Rao came down heavily on the Centre on the coal mines privatisation, stating that it was a big conspiracy against Telangana.
“The coal of Singareni Collieries is a big asset for Telangana. People of Telangana will give a befitting reply to BJP for their act of privatizing Singareni,” he said.
KTR stated that SCCL is not just a coal mine but a gold mine that is giving employment to thousands of youth of Telangana.
"Employees of Singareni and the people of Telangana will show their power in Delhi if the BJP continues its attempts to privatize the company. This agitation will be much bigger than the agitation staged against the three farm laws," he said.
The Minister said that the Telangana leaders will stand by the Singareni employees in this fight against BJP.
KTR also expressed anger over asking the SCCL to participate in the auction for JBROC-3, KK-6, Shravana Pally OC, Koyagudem coal mines instead of allocating them directly to the company.
The center is supposed to allocate coal mines to strengthen the Singareni which is running in profits. Instead, they are asking the company to take part in an auction for mines. This is nothing but creating hurdles for Telangana and its development, the minister said.
He wrote a letter to Union Minister Prahlad Joshi strongly demanding the allocation of coal mines directly to Singareni. He said in the past seven years Singareni has increased the production from 450 lakh tonnes to 670 lakh tonnes.
He also added that coal mining, revenue increase, profits, and expansion of the company also took place highlighting the growth of the company.
"With the efforts of Telangana government, Singareni workers, and management, the company was in news for making huge profits. But once the company gets privatized, the only news would be the company’s downfall," he said.