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Hyderabad: Release white paper on Singareni says Kishan Reddy to CM KCR
- Advises KCR family to not to sacrifice SCCL for selfish political needs
- Wants BRS govt to explain how company, which had surplus funds, is sliding into debt
- Accuses govt of pushing ‘black gold’ of Telangana to debts to pay salaries
Hyderabad/New Delhi:Union Minister for Culture and Tourism G Kishan Reddy on Wednesday demanded Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to release a whitepaper on the slide in the fortunes of the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) for the last nine years, falling from a surplus entity to a debt-ridden one.
Addressing the media in Delhi, he stated that the Central and the State governments have a share of 51 and 49 respectively in SCCL. However, the company which is under the administrative control of the State government, is facing political interference from the Kalvakuntla family.
"The excessive interference is high, and factors such as back-door privatisation, significant reduction of jobs, total collapse of economic situation and security lapses have taken Singareni to the brink of collapse", Reddy alleged.
"During the Telangana movement, the Kalavakuntla family cried about protecting Singareni." But, now it's siphoning its funds." He said the BRS government will realise the grave offence committed against SCCL only when the election results emerge.
The minister said Singareni had surplus funds of Rs. 3,500 crore when Telangana was formed. According to calculations up to January 2023, it now has debts and liabilities of about Rs 10,000 crore. He asked the government to explain to people reasons why SCCL turnover is increasing, but profits are not increasing commensurately.
"The SCCL has been pushed to the extent that now it can't pay salaries without incurring debts".
Further, he said, Coal India Ltd (CIL), which is 10 times bigger than Singareni, currently has outstanding debt of Rs. 12,000 crore, as against SCCL's Rs. 10,000 core.
"The slide of Singareni can be attributed to the excessively increasing political interference and unnecessary meddling in every aspect. This is further exacerbating the situation".
Reddy asserted that the government was criticising the Centre for trying to privatise SCCL. "It is the BRS government that has privatised Singareni through unscrupulous back-channels".
He stated that the Kalvakuntla's family has forgotten that mines are allotted through public auctions across the country. Reddy recalled that the whole country is following the same procedure in the auction of coal mines.
The minister criticised the Kalvakuntla family for mismanaging the Singareni Collieries. He stated that "they are now deceiving people of Andhra Pradesh saying they will invest in the Visakha Steel Plant (VSP).
