K Chandrasekhar Rao plans to make Singareni Collieries a Telangana company
Hyderabad: Telangana government is contemplating taking over State-Centre jointly owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) and turn it into a global company.
The state’s move is in tune with the Centre’s disinvestment policy.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao approved a special Telangana increment to the Singareni workers and employees besides treating the “Sakala Janula Samme” strike period for Telangana by the staff as leave.
Mr Rao told officials to improve hygiene conditions, canteen facilities etc. within the next three months.
The Singareni Collieries is the country’s largest government coal mining company jointly owned by the government of Telangana and the government of India on a 51:49 equity basis.
The Singareni coal reserves stretch across 350 km of the Pranahita Godavari valley of Telangana with proven geological reserves aggregating to 8791 million tonnes.
The SCCL is currently operating 15 opencast and 34 underground mines in four districts of Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam with manpower of around 62,805.
The company produced 53.190 million metric tonnes of coal, earning a revenue of Rs 10,311.73 crore the in last fiscal.
The Chief Minister said he would inaugurate one or two underground mines before Dasara. The Singareni Collieries Company should also begin the process of starting six more underground mines projects to create more employment, this year, he added.
The senior officials assured the Chief Minister that thermal power plants of 600 MW each initiated by them would be ready by November 15, 2015.
The Chief Minister suggested working out strategies to meet the growing demands of coal and said that Singareni Company should explore the possibilities of mining outside the state and country.
He okayed 1,500 acres of Singareni Collieries land at Ramagundam for the purpose of setting up new units. He also okayed 400 acres in Ramagundam and 2,000 acres at Manuguru for the new power units.
Asking officials to ensure Singareni gets a corporate look, he directed company officials to establish four super specialty hospitals in the Singareni mining districts of Khammam, Warangal, Adilabad and Karimnagar.
He also said that by making use of the four super specialty hospitals the company could also open a medical college in due course.
