HYDERABAD: Industry minister KT Rama Rao on Monday said the Centre was planning to privatise Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), a move which he stressed amounts to discrimination against Telangana and its people.
Warning the Centre against such moves, KTR said SCCL is a big asset for Telangana and people of the state will give a befitting reply to the BJP if it doesn’t stop its conspiracy of privatising Singareni mines. He said it will result in complete disappearance of the company.
“ SCCL is not just a coal mine but a gold mine that is giving employment to thousands of youth of Telangana. Employees of Singareni and the people of Telangana would show their power in Delhi if the BJP continues its attempts to privatise the company. This agitation will be much bigger than the agitation staged against the three farm laws,” KTR said in a letter to Union coal and mines minister Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi.
KTR said Centre was planning to push Singareni into losses and then privatise it. Similarly, in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the iron ore mines required for the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant were not provided which led to losses of the plant and that plant would be privatised soon.
Twentyseven requisition letters on the steel plant were still pending with the Centre, he said. Demanding allocation of coal mines directly to Singareni, he said Telangana leaders would stand by SCCL employees in this fight against the BJP.
“Why are the coal mines not allocated to SCCL directly on the lines of lignite mines allocated to Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation in Gujarat. Under BJP governance, there is one rule for Gujarat and another rule for Telangana. Is Telangana not a part of India,” he wondered. Centre was supposed to allocate coal mines to strengthen Singareni which was making profits.
