Singareni is nation’s pride: KCR

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday termed Singareni Collieries Company Limited as the jewel of the nation saying that the company is playing a vital role in meeting the power requirements of many south Indian state through its coal production.

Speaking on the SCCL during short term discussion in the Assembly, Chandrasekhar Rao said that the SCCL which began its operation in 1920 is growing by leaps and bounds.  He said that the company is now running with a share of 49:51 between the Centre and the State.

Listing out the achievements of the SCCL, the Chief Minister said that the coal company produced 600 lakh tones of coal during the year 2015-16 registering a 15 pc growth as against 3 pc prior to 2014. He said that the SCCL was operating 46 mines- 30 underground and 16 open cast mines in the region. He said that as many as 56,866 workers are employed with the SCCL with 34,764 employed in underground mines and 10,427 in open cast mines. He also said that the government has enhanced the ex-gratia for accidental deaths of workers of the company from Rs 7 lakh to 25 lakh.  He said that the TRS government has recently approved to revive the process of providing jobs to dependants of the workers recently.

Explaining about the company’s plans of expansion, Chandrasekhar Rao said that 20 new underground mines and 11 open cast mines would become inaugurated which would provide 11, 621 additional jobs. He said despite getting losses due to underground mines, the company was continuing the operation only for the job security of workers. He said the open casts were fetching higher profits. He also added that the company was foraying into the power generation segment also.