All-party delegation to approach Centre on coal blocks to SCCL

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said Kishan Reddy would be launching the 10th round of commercial coal mines auction in Hyderabad on June 21.

Khammam: An all-party delegation will meet union Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy seeking to allot coal blocks in Telangana to the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said here on Thursday.

He said Kishan Reddy would be launching the 10th round of commercial coal mines auction in Hyderabad on June 21. On behalf of the State government, the union Minister would be requested to allot the Sravanapalli coal block in Mancherial district, which goes for auctioning in a couple of months, to SCCL without auction.

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Speaking to the media here, Bhatti Vikramarka said the union Minister would be asked to seek Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appointment to consult him regarding the issue. An all-party delegation and all the stakeholders would request the Prime Minister to protect the interests of the SCCL. The State government was committed to protect the SCCL which employs 42,000 employees directly and 26,000 employees on an outsourcing basis while helping 50,000 to earn livelihood indirectly. The company was a lifeline for the State and coal was being produced through its 40 mines, he said.The company now produces 70 million tonnes of coal annually and it was estimated that by the year 2060 the coal production would come down to 17.28 million tonnes. In order to sustain the coal production capacity by 2030-32, the SCCL needs to explore new coal mines. If no new coal mines were acquired, the SCCL would become history, he said.

Through an amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act of 1957, the BJP-led Centre had in 2015 opened the way for auctioning of all coal mines and leasing them to private firms, Bhatti Vikramarka noted. In the auctions that followed, the Sathupalli-II and Koyagudem blocks were acquired by two separate private firms. However, the two private firms which acquired Sathupalli-II and Koyagudem blocks were not able to start coal production within the prescribed timeframe due to lack of expertise and the mines allotment was set to lapse. Kishan Reddy would be requested to allot these two coal blocks to SCCL and the government was ready to offer a certain percentage against the bid made by the firms to acquire the coal blocks in the Swiss challenge method. The union Minister, who hails from Telangana, should ensure that all coal blocks in the Godavari valley are allotted to SCCL without auction, Bhatti Vikramarka said.

Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao was also present.