Telangana assembly polls are due next year and the BJP is making no bones about its plan to challenge the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi. An alarmed TRS is now striking back, weaving its campaign, among other things, around attempts to privatise the coal mines in the state. The TRS’s contention is that even though Telangana government has majority stake in Singareni Collieries Co Limited (SCCL), the Centre is pushing for its privatisation. The tirade has forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in the controversy. While dedicating the Ramagundam Fertilisers plant to the nation in Peddapalli district recently, he said that the Centre had no authority to privatise the Singareni coal mines, as the majority stake was with the Telangana government and the Centre had only 49 per cent equity in it. “We have no intention either to privatise SCCL,” he emphasised. However, the Telangana government remains unrelenting in its tirade. Koppula Eshwar, state social welfare minister, said that Modi had made the statement only to mislead the people of Telangana and coal mine workers, who have been up in arms against the Union coal ministry’s move to auction four coal blocks adjacent to Singareni. The Singareni coal mines are spread over Adilabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, and Warangal districts along the Godavari river belt. In August 2021, the Centre had decided to auction four coal mines adjacent to Singareni Collieries – Kalyan Khani block-6, Koyagudem block-3, Sathupalli block-6 and Shravanapalli -- as per the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. This set off alarm bells among coal mine TUs. During the budget session of Parliament this year, Pralhad Joshi, Union coal minister, said that an attempt was made to auction the four coal blocks of SCCL in 2021, but no bids were received from any private parties. Joshi said that the Telangana government and SCCL management had written to the ministry for the outright allocation of coal blocks to Singareni on the grounds that the existing mines of the company were exhausting coal reserves gradually. No need for reservation “However, the coal ministry has decided that there is no need for such reservation of coal blocks to the SCCL, as it will become a precedent for others,” he told Parliament. In July this year, the Centre put up the four coal blocks for auctioning again, but only Koyagudem block in Yellandu in Bhadradri Kothagudem district was bagged by one bidder – MMDS Auro Coal Private Ltd – for mining for a period of 10 years. “Out of the 82 coal blocks in Telangana, only 40 are in the control of SCCL,” affirm TUs. “Legitimately, the remaining 42 blocks belong to Singareni, which should get them as a part of the expansion plans. But the Centre wants to privatise them through auction. So, the remaining blocks would be gradually handed over to the private parties in the coming years, as per the Central government policy,” they add. Joshi, meanwhile, has said the decision to auction the other mines has nothing to do with Singareni. “If the SCCL wants any mines, it can also participate in the auction and bid for the same,” he explained.
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Out of the 82 coal blocks in Telangana, only 40 are in the control of SCCL
