CM KCR will ensure coal mines are allocated to Singareni: Jagadish Reddy

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao would ensure that coal mines were allocated to the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), thwarting the attempts being made by the Centre to allot the mines to others including private agencies, Energy Minster Jagadish Reddy said.

Hyderabad: Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy said Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao would ensure that coal mines were allocated to the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), thwarting the attempts being made by the Centre to allot the mines to others including private agencies.

Despite the Telangana government’s appeal to allot four coal blocks situated in the Singareni area, they were offered for allocation through auction by the Centre, the Minister said during question hour in the Assembly here on Saturday. Replying to a question by Congress MLA D Sridhar Babu, the Minister said bids were invited four times for auctioning the coal blocks. Save for one company, not many private agencies evinced interest in the bids, he said.

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“Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao will oppose all vested moves of the Centre and ensure Singareni’s survival. People should not have any doubts in this regard,” Jagadish Reddy said.

On the Centre’s vicious intentions, the Minister said in December 2021, the Chief Minister had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allot the coal blocks to Singareni directly. An appeal was made to the Ministry of Coal as well for reservation or allocation of coal bearing areas of Godavari valley coal fields under section 17A / 11 A of the MMDR Act. But the union government did not consider Telangana’s plea, he said.

Further, the union government in its reply in January 2023 asked the Telangana government to participate in the auction and obtain the coal blocks, he said.
“Only Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is striving to save TSRTC, Singareni and other public sector undertakings,” he said.