BRS says KCR’s efforts secured Tadicherla coal block for Singareni
The BRS credited former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao for securing the Tadicherla coal block for Singareni and accused the Congress and BJP of facilitating coal block auctions. Party leaders also alleged scams in Singareni and demanded all coal blocks be allotted through nomination.
Hyderabad: Former Minister Koppula Eshwar asserted that the allotment of the Tadicherla coal block to Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) was the result of sustained efforts by BRS chief and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and the Telangana Boggu Ghani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS). However, he said both the Congress and the BJP were attempting to claim undue credit despite being responsible for the auctioning of coal blocks.
Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan on Thursday, Eshwar said safeguarding Singareni was the people’s right and asserted that the coal major had been strengthened under Chandrashekhar Rao’s leadership. He said Singareni had discovered the Tadicherla block decades ago and secured it only after a 13-year struggle. He added that the Tadicherla block was not on the Centre’s auction list.
The senior BRS leader recalled that former Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao had made sustained efforts and even wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposing amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act), as well as the auction of coal blocks. “But the Centre ignored the request. Instead, both the Congress and the BJP supported amendments to the MMDR Act and paved the way for the auction of coal mines,” he added.
He said the Congress and the BJP should stop competing for credit over Tadicherla and instead focus on restoring privatised mines to Singareni, resolving workers’ pending demands and identifying those responsible for the alleged missing coal scam.
Former MLA Balka Suman alleged that while Singareni had become a profitable enterprise under the BRS rule, it had turned into a centre of scams after the Congress assumed office. He pointed to alleged irregularities in overburden (OB) tenders, a Rs. 1,600-crore coal scam involving 42 lakh metric tonnes of coal, and claimed that scams worth Rs. 16,000 crore had taken place in Singareni during the Congress government’s tenure.
He also criticised the government for preventing senior BRS leader T Harish Rao from inspecting coal reserves and questioned why Central agencies had not investigated the allegations. He demanded that all coal blocks be allotted to Singareni through nomination instead of auctions.
Telangana Coal Mine Workers’ Union president Miryala Raji Reddy said all parties except the BRS had supported coal mine auctions. He credited Chandrashekhar Rao’s intervention with helping Singareni secure the Tadicherla block, which was identified as early as 1995. He also urged Union Minister G Kishan Reddy to expedite forest clearances for pending blocks and sought clarity on the handling of the Sathupalli and Manuguru coal block issues.
