HYDERABAD: Activists of TRS affiliated Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS) burnt the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to protest against the auction of 41 coal blocks of Coal India Limited (CIL), on Friday. The protestors staged a dharna in front of Singareni Bhavan — headquarters of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) in Hyderabad, as per the call given by former honorary president of TBGKS and former MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha.
TBGKS workers also staged protests at all the mines of SCCL on Friday. Workers will hold a strike and not work for one day on July 2 in all coal mines of SCCL. TBGKS president M Raji Reddy said once the Centre starts privatising coal blocks of CIL, it would be implemented in SCCL too.
The then Vajpayee government allowed only captive mining, but the Modi government was directly auctioning the coal mines, he alleged. TBGKS leaders recalled that the TRS government had earlier provided financial assistance to SCCL, and alleged that the Modi government posed a threat to the security of workers.
TBGKS former honorary president Kavitha too strongly opposed the Centre’s decision to privatise SCCL, which is one of the profit-making PSUs. It may be recalled that as many as six trade unions have decided to go on a strike from July 2 to 4, protesting against the privatisation of coal mines.