PEDDAPALLI: BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Wednesday accused the Congress government of neglecting Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) and its workers, alleging that coal production had declined and corruption had increased under its rule.
Addressing a public meeting organised under the banner of ‘Singareni Karmika Garjana’ at Godavarikhani, the former minister alleged that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was attempting to shift the blame for the power shortage onto SCCL by citing a decline in coal production.
The BRS leader claimed that coal production had fallen to 58 million tonnes from 70 million tonnes. Alleging large-scale irregularities in Singareni, he accused chief minister’s brother-in-law, Srujan Reddy of being involved in corruption. He further alleged that irregularities were taking place in the name of site visits and that open-cast mine tenders had been postponed seven times.
The Sircilla MLA also claimed that the government owes Rs 60,000 crore to SCCL and alleged that the company had suffered due to three years of neglect and corruption. He also accused Revanth Reddy of paying “monthly installments” to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi.
Comparing the workers’ profit-sharing arrangements under the previous BRS regime and the present Congress government, he said that workers had received a 32% share during the BRS tenure, while the share had declined to 16% and 12% per cent under the Congress government. He alleged that Rs 6,170 crore had been siphoned off from SCCL.
Seeks CBI probe
Rama Rao also urged the Centre to order a CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities in SCCL. He said that evidence relating to the alleged corruption had been submitted to Union Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy but no action has been taken so far.
Accusing the Congress and BJP of colluding with each other, he criticised both parties over their handling of Singareni affairs.