Harish Rao slams government over slashed SCCL bonus

Expressing anger over Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s announcement, Harish Rao said that instead of bringing good news to the workers during the festive season, the government had brought disappointment.

Hyderabad: The Congress government’s decision to slash the bonus for workers of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited has drawn sharp criticism from former Minister T Harish Rao, who condemned the government for betraying the workers who have been the driving force behind the company’s success.

Expressing his anger over Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s announcement, Harish Rao said that instead of bringing good news to the workers during the festive season, the government had brought disappointment.

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The BRS strongly condemned the government’s decision to reduce the workers’ share of the profits by 50 percent. Despite the workers’ relentless efforts leading to record profits, the Congress government dashed their hopes of receiving a fair bonus. For the financial year 2022-23, Singareni earned a profit of Rs 2,222 crore, from which 32%, approximately Rs 710 crore, was distributed to the workers. However, for the year 2023-24, the company made a remarkable profit of Rs 4,701 crore. Based on the 33% share as announced by the government, workers were expected to receive around Rs 1,550 crore. Yet, the amount declared was only Rs 796 crore, which was merely 16.9 percent of the total profit. This raises a critical question- where has the remaining Rs 754 crore that rightfully belong to the workers gone? The government claimed a profit of Rs 4,701 crore but has only declared a 33 percent bonus on Rs 2,412 crore, conveniently denying a share from the remaining Rs.2289 crore, Harish Rao said.