The management of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) has approved the decision to increase the retirement age of its workers and employees from the existing 58 years to 61 years, on a par with other employees of the State government.
It will benefit 43,899 workers and officials of the coal company by giving them three more years of service. A total of 767 employees of Singareni Collieries, including 689 workers and 39 officials who retired during the period from March 31 to June 30 after attaining the age of superannuation, would also be allowed to rejoin the service as a result of the retirement age increase.
The decision was taken at the 557th board meeting of SCCL held here on Monday. The board took up the issue of retirement age hike on its agenda following a decision taken by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at a meeting with the SCCL area elected representatives and Chairman and Managing Director of the company N. Sridhar on July 20.
In another significant decision of the board, the divorced daughters of retired or deceased employees of Singareni would now be considered for compassionate employment. So far, only the unmarried daughters depending on the employee were being considered for it. Now, the divorced daughters of retired/deceased employees would stand a chance of appointment in SSCL on compassionate grounds.
Further, the board approved sanction of ₹60 crore for corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes during 2021-22 in the surrounding villages of Singareni mines. In response to a request from the State government, the SCCL board approved allotment of 201 housing plots of 85 square yards each near Naspur Colony to locals displaced by the widening of national highway in the Srirampur area.
The board also cleared the proposals for acquiring new machinery and contract works pertaining to different mines as also for the budget required for laying new roads pertaining to Ramagundam OC-5 mine. Removal of gender bias in appointment of executives under the national coal wage agreement (NCWA) and change of designation of mining officers having first class mine manager certificate were also approved by the board.
Chaired by CMD N. Sridhar, the board meeting was attended by Principal Secretary (Finance) K. Ramakrishna Rao, Secretary (Energy) Sandeep Kumar Sultania, CMD of Western Coalfields Manoj Kumar, directors of SCCL S. Chandrasekhar, N. Balaram and D. Satyanarayana Rao, and Company Secretary Sunita Devi.
