HYDERABAD: Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Tuesday said coal sales of the state-owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited were being affected as private players were supplying coal at lower prices.
Replying to questions in the Assembly, Vikramarka, who also holds the Energy portfolio, said customers naturally preferred cheaper coal, impacting SCCL’s market share. He expressed concern over policies of the Union government that had facilitated greater private participation in the sector.
He said SCCL had earlier lost coal blocks due to non-participation in auctions but had secured new blocks after the formation of the Congress government, which encouraged the company to directly take part in auctions.
The deputy chief minister announced that a high-level meeting would be convened within 10 days of the Assembly session’s conclusion, involving ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs from the Singareni belt and SCCL officials, to discuss the company’s future and workers’ welfare.
Reiterating the government’s commitment to workers, he said a cath lab under PPP mode would be set up at Ramagundam within 75 days. A notification had been issued for the recruitment of 32 doctors, while 175 paramedical staff were being hired, with all medical vacancies at Singareni hospitals to be filled by March.
He said a decision on allotting housing plots to retired employees would be taken after Board discussions and that measures would be taken to ensure access to medicines and `1 crore accidental insurance.
Answering another question, Vikramarka said eligible barber shops, laundry shops and dhobi ghats were being billed under a special subsidised commercial category. There was no proposal to issue fresh orders to ensure uniform continuation of free electricity. He said the state had 1,04,821 such units in total.
‘Need for structural break for $3 trillion economy’
Telangana could naturally grow into a $1.2 trillion economy by 2047, but the Telangana Rising Vision Document aims for a far more ambitious $3 trillion target, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said in the Assembly on Tuesday.
He described the document as a directional guide for the state’s future rather than a routine government report or political blueprint. He noted that the GSDP had doubled every decade since 1991 and now stood at $200 billion.
“If we continue with business as usual, economists estimate that we would reach about $1.2 trillion by 2047. Achieving $3 trillion requires a structural break from the past,” he said.