SCCL revives Medical Board meetings after gap, employees allege lack of relief

SCCL has resumed Medical Board meetings after a gap of nearly one and a half years, but employees allege that many workers with serious health conditions are still being declared fit. Trade union leaders claimed the number of approved applications has fallen.

Kothagudem: Medical Board meetings that started in SCCL after a gap of nearly one and a half years have failed to provide any succour to employees who seek medical invalidation or voluntary retirement due to health issues.

It is worth noting that in view of requests from employees, former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao revived the Corporate Medical Board in 2018 to handle their compassionate and dependent employment claims on health grounds and provide jobs to their dependents.

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As many as 118 Medical Board meetings were convened and nearly 13,500 candidates were given employment during the BRS regime. But after the Congress party came to power, it ignored Medical Board meetings.

After protests by employees and trade unions, the SCCL management convened Medical Board meetings in July and August, after the last meeting in March 2025. Nearly 240 employees appeared for interviews and medical evaluation, and applications of around 40 employees were approved.

There have been complaints that many of the applicants who faced critical health issues were denied medical invalidation and declared fit for service. If they worked in underground mines, they were given surface work.

For instance, an employee of Mandamarri whose right leg was amputated up to the knee after a road accident, besides suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes, was declared fit for duties.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Telangana Boggu Ghani Karmika Sangham (TGBKS) state chief general secretary Kapu Krishna alleged that the management is against giving dependent jobs and hence applications of a majority of the employees are being rejected.

He said a 50-year-old employee, Ram Nivas, of Dhanbad in Kothagudem, who carries a catheter bag to collect urine from the bladder and needs someone’s support all the time, was declared fit for service. Many employees with serious kidney ailments and heart issues were also declared fit.

When the BRS was in power, Medical Board meetings were convened twice or thrice every month and nearly 80 to 90 percent of applications were approved. Now only 20 percent of applications are being approved, while applications of genuinely sick employees are being rejected, he noted.

He reminded that during the trade union elections in 2023, the Congress party, its trade union wing INTUC and CPI-affiliated AITUC promised to hold two Medical Board meetings every month but failed to deliver on the promise, he added.