An all-party meeting held here on Tuesday has decided to work together with the trade unions of Singareni Collieries to build pressure on the Centre against its plans of privatising public sector coal mines, thereby protecting the 79-year-old coal company in the State.
The meeting attended by leaders of several Left parties, Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Jana Samithi and representatives of several trade unions sought to know why Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who had opposed the amendments proposed by the Centre to the Electricity Act, was keeping quiet on the issue of privatisation of coal mines in Singareni along with other public sector coal companies.
They demanded that the State government, which has 51% stake in Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL), make its stand clear on the move of privatisation and suggested that the CM come forward to lead the fight against Singareni’s privatisation, which was the most profitable public sector undertaking in the State. They noted that the Centre was planning to privatise at least 11 coal blocks in Singareni.
The meeting presided over by State secretary of Communist Party of India (CPI) Chada Venkat Reddy termed the Narendra Modi government’s move as a conspiracy to privatise profit-making PSUs with the excuse of coronavirus pandemic. The all-party meeting also extended support to the protest programmes of Central trade unions slated for June 10 and 11.
On their part, the all-party leaders would stage protest in front of the SCCL corporate office here on June 11 and submit representations to Governor, Chief Minister as well as Chief Secretary to the government towards protecting Singareni. Mr. Venkat Reddy sought to know the rationale behind privatising Singareni which had contributed ₹3,650 crore revenue to the Centre, ₹3,400 crore to the State in the forms of different taxes and provided ₹2,000 crore funding to six districts over which the Singareni coal mines were spread. Besides, it had also kept ₹2 crore each at the the disposal of every legislator in the mining areas for taking up welfare and development measures of their choice.
Congress Legislature Party leader M. Bhatti Vikramarka alleged that the Centre was trying to hand over the country’s economic activity to the private sector completely and it would lead to a situation wherein the private forces would dictate the democracy. He also opposed the Centre’s move to allow private investments in the defence and space sectors.
Comparing the Centre’s plans to privatise profit-making PSUs to killing the golden goose, president of TJS M. Kodandaram expressed fears that privatisation of opencast mines would send the management of Singareni to private hands. L. Ramana of TDP, D.G. Narasimha of CPI(M), K. Goverdhan of CPI-ML-New Democracy, Ramadevi of CPI-New Democracy, M.K. Bose of AITUC and Saibaba of CITU spoke on the occasion.
