HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop auctioning of four coal blocks belonging to Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) as proposed by the Union Coal Ministry and allot the proposed blocks to the SCCL.
Workers of all the Unions are going on a three-day strike from Thursday opposing the Union government's move to auction four coal blocks of SCCL.
In this backdrop, Rao wrote a letter to the Prime Minister requesting him to stop the proposal by the Union Coal Ministry.
In his letter, the Chief Minister wrote that the SCCL produces around 65 million tonnes of coal every year and plays a key role in catering to the needs of thermal power plants in Telangana, AP, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Rao said that after the bifurcation of the state, the maximum demand for power was 5,661 MW in 2014 in the state and by March 2021, it went up to 13,688 MWs.
“It’s essential to maintain uninterrupted supply of coal for generation of thermal power. Based on the Singareni needs, the State government had issued several mining licenses, which the Centre is aware of and the Union Coal Ministry also gave its green
signal,” the Chief Minister wrote.
He urged the Prime Minister to instruct the Union Coal Ministry to stop the auction of JBROC-3, Sravanpally OC, Koya Gudem OC-3 and KK-6 UG Block under Union Ministry’s Trench 13, as it would adversely impact the needs under Singareni jurisdiction for coal. He also urged Modi
to allocate these blocks to the SCCL.