Controversial site visit certificate rule for tenders in Singareni to be relaxed, says Kishan Reddy

Union Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy announced that the mandatory site visit certificate rule for private companies participating in SCCL tenders would be relaxed. He said the tender cancellations were under review by a team from New Delhi.

Kothagudem: Amid the controversy over cancellation of tenders in the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) following alleged irregularities, Union Minister for Coal and Mines G Kishan Reddy said the rule for obtaining a site visit certificate for private companies to participate in tenders would be relaxed.

Several public sector coal-producing companies including Coal India have been implementing the site visit certificate policy. A company could produce a site visit certificate by self-declaration or by geo-tagging the location. The norm of mandatory issuance of site visit certificate by SCCL would be changed and the matter would be discussed with the company management, he said.

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Kishan Reddy, who was on a two-day tour to Kothagudem held a meeting with the senior officials of the company on Saturday night, visited Padmavathi Khani underground mine on Sunday and interacted with workers.

Speaking to the media he said the circumstances that led to cancellation of tenders were discussed with SCCL officials. A team of officials from New Delhi was looking into the matter and would submit a report.

Referring to the site visit certificate policy, he said some companies submit tenders without assessing ground-level situations. As a result, coal production which was supposed to be taken up within three or five years would not be taken up even after 10 years causing loss to the nation.

It was essential to take up production at the earliest to meet the demand without profitability concerns as power generation in the country depends on coal production. The Union government never earned profits from coal production and there was no profit to the Centre from SCCL either, Kishan Reddy noted.

Regarding dues pending to be paid to the SCCL by Telangana government, Kishan Reddy said that he would write a letter to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. The Centre was pushing forward with coal gasification. Misinformation was being spread that Singareni would be privatised. It was not true. The company belongs to the workers and they should receive the share of the profits first, Kishan Reddy added.