The Telangana government is contemplating buying out central government stake in Singareni Collieries to make it totally a Telangana state-owned company.
At a review meeting with officials concerned on the activities of Singareni Collieries on Monday, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao directed them to initiate steps in that regard while pointing out that under the central government’s disinvestment policy, possibilities of owing the company are very bright.
Taking stock of the coal reserves, opencast mining, ground water mining, work force, leave structure, staffing and mechanisation, among other issues, the Chief Minister sought to know the reasons for reducing the work force in some areas. There are about 30 to 40 prospective underground mining areas and as such when people are prepared to work in them, opening such mines need to be worked out, he said while making clear his intentions for inaugurating a couple of underground mines before Dasara.
He asked Singareni Collieries to begin the process of launching six more underground mines this year to create more employment.
Officials told the CM that Rs 1,200 crore of royalty is paid to central government and Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 1,600 crore to the state government annually. The total turnover of the company stands at Rs 2,300 crore, they explained.
The officials were told to take measures to protect the lands belonging to the company outside the zstate like lands in Kondapally of Krishna district, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada of residuary state of Andhra Pradesh. KCR asked them to work out details of the assets and fence them.
Enquiring about the air pollution and water pollution control measures, he pointed about certain lapses and suggested large scale tree plantation, of about one crore saplings in and around the mining area. He also reviewed the thermal power projects of the company. Singareni Collieries CMD Sutirtha Bhattacharya assured CM on the occasion that both the power plants of 600 MW each initiated by them will be ready by November 15, 2015.
The CM asked the company officials to initiate steps to allot 1,500 acres of land at Ramagundam for NTPC for its 4000 MW power project, 400 acres of land in Ramangundam and 2000 acres of land at Manuguru for Telangana GENCO.
Company officials were asked to work out strategies to meet the growing demands of coal and explore possibilities of mining outside the state and country. He directed the officials to constitute a 10-member delegation with Singareni Collieries CMD, Principal Secretary to CM and other officials, union delegates to visit countries like Australia, South Africa, Mozambique, Indonesia etc and find out rich coal fields.
Source: New Indian Express