Telangana: KTR vows to oppose Centre’s coal block auction

Hyderabad: Telangana IT and Industries minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Thursday slammed the Centre’s announcement to auction coal mines in the area of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL).

Calling it a conspiracy to auction coal blocks and privatising SCCL, he promised to launch a people’s movement and further called on Parliamentarians to bring up the issue in the Parliament.

KTR was referring to a recent visit PM Modi made to Ramagundam in which he assured the people of Telangana that Singareni would not be privatised. The Center however, later declared in the Lok Sabha that four SCCL coal mines would be put up for auction.

KTR said that the privatisation of the SCCL will have a negative impact on the state in a statement released here on Thursday. He characterised the Central government’s activities as vindictive and a plot to impede state growth. He said SCCL was a top-performing business for the production of thermal electricity in the southern states. Even though Singareni was generating good money and the Center was auctioning off coal blocks, he questioned the need for it.

“Why does the Centre not allocate coal mines to Singareni like it allocated lignite mines to Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation?” he asked.

KTR stated that despite repeated requests from the state government, the coal workers and also the SCCL management for allocation of coal blocks, the Centre had not considered them.