Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief and MP A Revanth Reddy on Saturday wrote to Prime minister Narendra Modi urging him to immediately stop the proposed auction of the four Singareni coal blocks.
“The recent decision by the Ministry of Coal, Government of India to auction these four coal blocks in Singareni collieries in the 3rd tranche for auction of coal mines for sale of coal vide notification dated 12.10.2021 goes against the interest of all stakeholders in the region,” he wrote in the letter.
“The decision has caused much anxiety in the state of Telangana as SCCL is the only major public sector enterprise in the region that employs thousands of skilled and unskilled workers. Mineworkers are worried about their future. They have given a call for a three-day strike from 09/12/2021, Thursday opposing the Union government move to auction four coal blocks. Any such decision to auction the above mentioned coal mines will disrupt the coal supply in the region and will make life more difficult for workers in this trying time of covid,” he added.
Coal production in Telangana-owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) came to a halt on Thursday as the employees began a three-day strike to oppose the Centre’s move to auction the four coal blocks (Kalyan Khani Block-6, Koyagudem Block-3, Sathupalli Block-6 and Shravanapalli).
Five trade unions had served notice on the management of state-owned SCCL to go on a 72-hour strike to press for a 12-point charter of demands.
With an overwhelming majority of 42,000 workers participating in the strike, coal extraction has paralysed in all 23 underground and 19 open cast mines. They struck work and staged the protest at the mines, opposing the union coal ministry’s proposal to auction the coal blocks.
Earlier, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop the auctioning of four coal blocks of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) as proposed by the Union Coal Ministry.