HYDERABAD: Accusing the Union government of trying to hand over four coal blocks in Telangana to private players, former TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday demanded an immediate withdrawal of the decision.
Raising the pitch in light of the strike by the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) workers, the MP raised the issue during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha. He said that handing over coal blocks would impact power production in Telangana, AP and Maharashtra and demanded the blocks be allocated to the SCCL.
Responding to Uttam’s charge, Union Coal Minister, Prahlad Joshi defended the decision and said that unlike the UPA government, there was a shift in policy of allocation. He said that the strike was ‘unfortunately State-sponsored’ and described the statements made by MP were ‘far from the fact’.
It may be mentioned here that the Congress State leadership has taken a stand to back the Singareni Collieries Company Limited striking workforce and questioned the decision of auctioning coal blocks.