AP issues GO claiming rights over it; Telangana govt to take it up to Centre

Hyderabad: In a letter to the energy department Secretary, the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) has once again reiterated that the Andhra Pradesh Heavy Machinery and Engineering Ltd (APHMEL) belongs to it.

An official from Telangana said, “The Telangana government will soon write a letter to the Centre.”

The letter was written in response to a GO issued by the AP government in August claiming ownership of APHMEL and this was communicated to SCCL by the AP energy department. SCCL CMD N. Sridhar in response wrote a letter to the Telangana energy department objecting.

APHMEL is located at Kondapalli near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. SCCL took over APHMEL as its subsidiary in 1994 and made huge investments to strengthen operations. SCCL has 82.54 equity while APIDC holds six per cent. The property of APHMEL is estimated to be Rs 700 crore. Out of this, the value of land is over Rs 200 crore.

According to the AP Reorganisation Act-2014, as many as 300 employees would be inducted into the SCCL.

Since the location of APHMEL is in Andhra Pradesh, the AP government has been claiming rights over it.

After Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy took over as Chief Minister of AP, it has been decided that both the Chief Ministers of the two Telugu states should discuss the matter and settle for an amicable solution. However, before the meeting takes place, the AP government in August issued a GO claiming the ownership on APHMEL.