Alleging that some vested elements were spreading false narratives about the State-owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) for selfish political motives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has categorically stated that there is no proposal to privatise the SCCL.
Some undesirable elements are spreading rumours in this regard with narrow political machinations at the behest of some vested interests, he charged in an oblique reference to the bitter critics of the BJP-led Central government’s policies related to the coal sector.
Mr. Modi was addressing a public function in Ramagundam of Telangana’s Peddapalli district after dedicating the gas-based neem-coated urea plant of the Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (RFCL) set up at a cost of over ₹6300 crore and the Bhadrachalam Road (Kothagudem)-Sattupalli new railway line project laid at a cost of ₹927.94 crore to the nation late on Saturday afternoon.
The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stones of various road expansion projects — Sironcha-Mahadevpur section of NH-353C, Bodhan-Basar-Bhainsa section of NH-161BB, and Medak-Siddipet-Elkaturthi section of NH-765DG — at an estimated cost of ₹2260 crore.
Majority stake with TS
Stating that the Telangana government holds 51% stake in the SCCL whereas the Centre’s stake in the coal company is only 49%. The Centre cannot take any decision pertaining to the SCCL on its own, he pointed out.
“At a time when a plethora of development works are underway, those averse to it are bent upon creating hurdles to the development endeavour,” he said, reaffirming that there was no proposal or intention to privatise the SCCL.
Referring to the major coal scams that surfaced in the country over a decade ago resulting in colossal loss to the public exchequer, he said the coal mines are being auctioned in a transparent manner keeping in view the burgeoning demand for coal in the country. To benefit people of the coal mining areas, a District Mineral Fund has been created for this purpose, he added.
He said our mission is to ensure accelerated development of Telangana in all spheres in line with the ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Viksas, Sabka Vishwas aur Sabka Prayas’ policy.
Listing out the reforms initiated by the Centre after 2014, he said 100% neem coating of urea was introduced to prevent blackmarketing and soil health cards were issued to crores of farmers. He said the Central government is supplying urea to the farmers at a highly subsidised prices.
The Centre initiated concrete measures to revive five defunct fertilizer plants to augment urea production. Of these, two plants, one in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur and one in Telangana’s Ramagundam have started production. Once all these five plants become fully operational, the urea production will go up by 60 lakh tonnes accruing multiple benefits such as saving foreign exchange reserves and ease of availability of urea, he asserted.
The RFCL plant will contribute immensely to boost economic development of Telangana in addition to catering the fertilizer requirements of farmers in the State and the neighbouring States.
Railway line
The new railway line between Kothagudem and Sattupalli will prove immensely beneficial in terms of transporting coal in a cost effective and environmental-friendly manner in Telangana’s coal belt, the Prime Minister affirmed.
He exuded confidence that the three highway expansion projects the foundations for which were laid on the occasion will improve connectivity in Hyderabad-Warangal industrial corridor, inter-State Road connectivity and give a major boost to the economy, creating enormous job opportunities.
Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy, Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay, among others, were present.
Ramagundam MLA Korukanti Chander of the TRS among other elected representatives concerned of the ruling party were conspicuous by their absence in the public function.
