Congress alleges multi-crore scam in Sinagreni Collieries

Hyderabad : Alleging a multi-crore scam in the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), the Telangana Congress on Wednesday demanded a high level enquiry and action against the culprits.

"This is to lodge a complaint against the embezzlement of thousands of crores of rupees, tampering of records, gross mismanagement and official malpractices in the SCCL, a company jointly owned by the Government of Telangana and Government of India," TPCC Chief Spokesperson Dr Sravan Dasoju said in his open letter to Central Vigilance Commissioner KV Chowdary. The letter was released to the media in a press conference addressed by Sravan and other leaders at Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday.

He said analysis of SCCL's material management, accounting procedures and financial statements clearly has exposed huge manipulations and malpractices. Quoting reliable sources, Sravan said that SCCL Managing Director N. Sridhar, IAS and few of his senior Management Team; Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS), the elected Trade union leaders and TRS leaders have reportedly connived indulging in various alleged malpractices.

Sravan said the excavated coal stocks seem to have been either been smuggled out or illegally sold several times. "During year 2014-2015, in Bellampally area (BPA), around 665 trucks of coal are alleged to have been illegally transported to M/s Orient Company and similarly, in Medapally open-cast mines that are situated in Ramagundam area (RG1), lot of manipulations have been reported regarding the coal distance and pilferages," he alleged adding that real culprits were not caught despite conducting official enquiries. He also alleged malpractices in awarding of various contracts including Washery Contract in Bhupalapalli Area; opencast mining contracts in various locations and other supply contracts and employee recruitment.

The Congress leader also submitted details of 'fudged records of coals and smuggling or illegal sale of coal' which he described as 'the most glaring and the mother of all manipulations and mismanagement in Singareni Collieries'. He informed that the coal stock position of SCCL from 11 mining areas, as on March 31, was 74,54,622 Lakh Tonnes. "Assuming that the average value of per tonne cost of coal is approximately around Rs 2000/-, the total financial worth of the above-mentioned coal stock would be Rs. 1490.93 Crores. Also, in order to excavate ‘one tonne’ of coal, approximately 10-12 tonnes of earth should be removed and accounts/ financial statements should clearly depict the cost incurred to remove such a quantum of earth. Further, the excavated earth deposits should be stored somewhere for subsequent refilling. However, it is not clearly mentioned in any financial statement about the cost incurred to excavate such large quantity of earth and subsequently coal," Sravan said.

Further, Sravan said when a team of Congress leaders went for physical verification, it found that not even 5% to 10% of the coal inventory exists on the ground and fraudulently, washery rejects are being shown as coal stocks. "Where does 7.5 million tonnes of excavated coal, as shown in the official records, has disappeared? False figures have been placed in public domain to mislead the stakeholders," he said.

Citing huge variation in the coal inventory and actual stocks, Sravan alleged that the coal stocks were either smuggled or sold illegally. "Or else, we apprehend that the records were fudged and non-existent coal was shown only to escalate the company’s asset value and project dubious profits to please the political bosses in the State Government," he said.

"It appears that the financial value of the above mentioned coal inventory of Rs 1490.93 crores were taken into account and included in computing the asset values of Singareni Collieries Company Limited and accordingly the GST, Income Tax, Royalty etc were paid to various government agencies and finally the company profits also were calculated. If the records were fabricated to falsely show the non-existent coal and project false profits, it is a serious scandal and financial scam similar to Satyam Computers Services Limited (SCSL) of misrepresenting the facts and figures and illegal accounting misleading its stakeholders. In case, If the coal stocks are illegally sold or smuggled, it shows that almost Rs 1500 crores were swindled and misappropriated. In any case, both acts are criminal in nature, which will hamper the financial health of the company and impact the very survival of the company," the Congress leader said.

Sravan said usually any trade union in any company is supposed to be a primary whistle blower of any corrupt practices. But ironically, TBGKS, being TRS affiliated trade union, never raised any voice against these manipulations. "It clearly shows that the SCCL Management, TS Government and TBGKS all have colluded in these manipulations," he alleged while demanding a thorough investigation to nab the offenders, if any.

The Congress leader said neither the SCCL management nor the Telangana Government responded to the complaints made about these misappropriations. "We assume that the above-mentioned issues are only a tip of the iceberg and if an intense investigation is launched, one may find many deeper manipulations. We are worried about the survival of the Singareni Collieries Company, while it is in fact a lifeline to lakhs of people in four districts of Telangana including its direct and indirect employees," he said.

Sravan said that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao wants to win the Singareni union elections at any cost primarily to prevent the scam getting exposed and allow the TRS leaders to continue with irregularities in future. For the same reason, he alleged that the TRS leaders were distributing upto Rs. 5,000 for each vote in favour of TBGKS. "KCR family has amassed huge illegal wealth through kickbacks from contractors of Mission Bhagiratha, irrigation and other projects. They are now distributing the same to lure Singareni workers.

While accusing TRS Govt of misusing official machinery including police, revenue and mines department, he alleged that some top officials of SCCL management including MD Sridhar were trying to influence upon workers to vote in favour of TBGKS.

The Congress leader challenged whether the Chief Minister would announce that TRS would not contest next general elections in the entire coal belt if he fails to fulfil the promises that he made with the Singareni workers.