BRS emerges first choice for coal workers
The party leadership too focused its attention to the development of these segments in the coal belt. Over the past nine years the Singareni has emerged as the top performer in the 200-odd Central and State public sector undertakings in the country.
Hyderabad: Pitched itself as the savior of the state- owned Singreni collieries, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti is being looked upon as the party of first choice in as many as ten assembly constituencies where the coal miners wield considerable political influence.
The mood of the rank and file of the party in the coal belt is upbeat.
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While a majority of the public sector undertakings elsewhere in the country have been facing an uncertain future owing to the big push given by the Centre to privatization, the coal miners of the SCCL have found themselves sufficiently protected in the safe hand of the Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.
He was singularly responsible for stonewalling every move to privatize the company. The fortunes of the company as well as its strong work force that included over 39,000 miners, witnessed a significant revival during the past nine years. Shaped into a more disciplined work force engaged in the mining operations they exhibited no signs of industrial unrest in the recent years. The morale of the coal workers is high.
A clean sweep in the coal belt in the ensuing assembly polls is what the party leadership is aiming at. The coal miners play an important role in tilting the balances at the hustings. Their role is decisive in the assembly constituencies of Kothagudem ( SCCL headquarters), Yellandu, Pinapaka, Bellampally, Mancherial, Chennur, Peddapalli, Ramagundam, Bhupalpally and Manthani.
Barring Manthani, rest of the constituencies are held by the BRS. In 2018, the BRS nominees had won the seats of Bellampally, Mancherial , Chennur and Peddapalli. The Congress party nominees had won the seats of Manthani, Kothagudem, Bhupalapalli, Yellandu and Pinapaka. But except for D Sridhar Babu (Manthani), they all had shifted their loyalties to the BRS.
The party leadership too focused its attention to the development of these segments in the coal belt. Over the past nine years the Singareni has emerged as the top performer in the 200-odd Central and State public sector undertakings in the country. It was moving ahead to cross the target of 100 million ton coal production and Rs 50,000 crore turnover in the next few years. The company would be paying Rs 700 crore as bonus from its profits on the eve of Deepavali this year.
The company paid the 11th wage board arrears amounting to Rs 1450 crore to the coal workers on Thursday. The stage has been set for paying the performance-linked bonus also ahead of Deepavali. The BRS affilitated Telangana Boggu Gani Karmikla Sangham (TBGKS), as the officially recognized trade union has been playing a key role in addressing the needs of the coal workers and safeguarding their interests. Spearheading the TBGKS campaign, BRS leader and MLC, K Kavitha played a key role in consolidating the support base of the trade union as well as the party in the coal belt.
The influence of the Congress Party and its affiliated INTUC is on the wane. So is the case with the left parties. The role of important trade unions such as the CITU and IFTU, which were making all out efforts to revive their support base have been finding themselves at bay with the company management playing a proactive role so far as the implementation of welfare reforms is concerned.
