BRS holds ‘Maha dharnas’ in coal belt region against SCCL ‘privatisation move’

BRS holds ‘Maha dharnas’ in coal belt region against Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) ‘privatisation move’

Vowing to build a broad-based movement against what they called the Centre’s move to privatise the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), scores of leaders of the BRS including several ministers, MLAs, MLCs and MPs led demonstrations christened ‘maha dharnas’ held at various places across the State’s vast coal belt region on April 8, 2023.

Activists of the ruling BRS-backed Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS) joined the demonstrations held simultaneously in Kothagudem, Bhupalpally, Ramagundam, Godavarikhani, Mancherial and elsewhere in the coal belt region.

The demonstrations were held in response to the call given by the BRS working president and Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao to hold maha dharnas to protest against what he termed as Centre’s repeated attempts to privatise the SCCL.

Addressing a ‘maha dharna’ held in the coal town of Kothagudem in Bhadradri Kothagudem district, Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar alleged that the Centre is making a fresh bid to auction the Sattupalli Block 3, Shravanapalli and Penagadapa coal blocks for commercial mining from March 29 to May 30, 2023.

“The Centre is clandestinely trying to deprive the State-owned SCCL of coal blocks as part of a conspiracy to privatise it,” he charged, alleging that the Centre turned a deaf ear to the consistent representations made by the State government to allocate the coal blocks to the SCCL without auctioning.

Terming the SCCL as Telangana’s lifeline, he said, “Any attempt to privatise the SCCL, which is marching on the path of progress, would undermine the interests of the workforce, farmers and the State as a whole.” He demanded that the Centre immediately roll back its decision and allocate the coal blocks in Telangana to the SCCL.

Other speakers alleged that the Centre’s fresh attempt to auction the coal blocks in Telangana comes less than six months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement during his visit to Ramagundam in November last year that the SCCL will not be privatised.