Centre’s allocation of Rs 1,650 cr to Singareni in budget misleading

According to an SCCL official the Rs 1,650 crore announced in the union Budget was actually a permission granted to all the public sector companies

Hyderabad: The Centre, which has been adopting a vengeful attitude towards Telangana, has once again misled the people with regard to allocation of Rs 1,650 crore to Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) in the union Budget presented on Wednesday, as it is not an additional allocation, but just a permission to the company management to utilise the amount for its needs from the internal resources.

According to an SCCL official the Rs 1,650 crore announced in the union Budget was actually a permission granted to all the public sector companies to utilise a specific amount from its internal resources to take up various development and day-to-day activities. “It’s not an additional allocation. Nothing is going to come to us from the Centre. Since the Centre holds 49 percent share in the company, it just grants permission to the company to use some amount to take up development works. This is announced every year during the union Budget as capital expenditure”, he clarified.

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The official informed that a similar allocation of Rs.2,880.01 crore was made to Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and Rs.16,500 crore to Coal India under the head of investment in public enterprises. “Such allocations are made every year to PSUs. There is nothing to boast about. Why it is shown as allocations we don’t know,” the official stated.

Interestingly, though the amount allocated to Singareni was being shown under grants in the budget, the Center has never given a single penny to the company so far. In the financial year 2015-16 the company was allocated Rs 2,390 crore under capital expenditure, but the actual expenditure stood at Rs. 2,820.22 crore. Similarly, during 2016-17, Rs. 2,300 crore was allocated, but the actual expenditure stood at Rs. 2,013.55 crore and in 2022-23, Rs. 2,000 crore was allocated as capital expenditure and till December 31, Rs. 909.80 crore has been spent by the company, a senior official of the company said.

According to officials, Singareni’s contribution to the Telangana exchequer during the current fiscal year (2022-23) stood at Rs 5,274.69 crore and Rs 2,362.51 crore to the Central exchequer. In fact, the company has contributed about Rs 25,095.04 crore to the Central exchequer since 2014-15.