Telangana urges Centre for direct allocation of coal blocks to Singareni Collieries

Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Thursday urged the Centre to allocate all the coal blocks near Singareni Collieries to the state-run mining company without going through the auction process.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said the State government would meet Union Coal and Mines minister G Kishan Reddy, who is also the BJP state chief, with the request. There are also plans to meet prime minister Narendra Modi with an all-party delegation, he added.

Vikramarka’s comments came a day ahead of the launch of the auction of the coal mines to be held by the Centre here on June 21 for commercial mining.

Coal production at Singareni Collieries

The Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is jointly owned by the Government of Telangana and the Government of India on a 51:49 equity basis.

Coal production is now going on in about 40 mines, and about 22 coal mines will have to be closed down by 2032-33 as coal would be exhausted there, the deputy CM said.

There are estimates that the coal production would fall to 17.28 million tons by 2060 from the 70 million tons at present, he added.

Bhatti blames BRS government’s inaction

Vikramarka alleged that the comments of BRS leaders on the matter and the actions of the BJP-led government at the Centre had hurt the interests of Telangana people.

In 2015, the BJP-led government did away with the opportunity to directly allot the coal blocks in the Godavari catchment area in the state to Singareni by amending the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and making a law to allocate coal blocks in the country by auction, he said.

BRS MPs had supported the bill in 2015 but now they talk about safeguarding Telangana’s interests, he said.

KTR accuses BJP and Congress of supporting privatisation

However, BRS working president KT Rama Rao accused the BJP-led Central government and the Congress government in the State of conspiring to privatise Singareni in the long run.

The State government’s participation in the auction contradicts its previous stance of opposing the auction and seeking direct allocation to Singareni from the Central government, he said.

“Why is chief minister Revanth Reddy silent on the Central government’s auction of mines in the Singareni area,” he asked.

Inputs from PTI

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