Telangana Industries Minister K T Rama Rao on Thursday found fault with the Centre's announcement to auction coal mines of the state-run Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL). Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently assured the people of Telangana that Sinagreni would not be privatized. However, the central government has announced that four coal mines of SCCL will be auctioned, said Rama Rao. Emphasising the economic significance of Sinagreni to Telangana, he said SCCL’s privatization will adversely affect the State. In a release, he alleged that the actions of the union government are "vengeful and a conspiracy" to hurt the state, which is flourishing.
Rama Rao said SCCL stands top among the southern states in generation of thermal power. He questioned the necessity behind Centre’s auctioning of Singareni, which is generating profits and has the best Plant Load Factor (PLF) in the country. "The Centre is conspiring to push Singareni into losses," the release quoted him as saying. Rama Rao, son of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, claimed that a large number of Lignite mines were allocated to Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) following the nomination method.
He sought to know from the Centre as to why coal mines were not allocated to Singareni the way it allocated Lignite mines to GMDC. Rama Rao also warned of agitations if the Centre went ahead with its plan to auction Singareni coal mines. Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is a 51:49 joint venture between the Telangana government and the Centre.
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