Centre Will Privatise Electricity, Coal Mines And Close Jobs: Telangana CM KCR Attacks BJP

Telangana CM KCR launched an unscathed attack on BJP for its attempts to privatise the coal and energy sectors.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao during a press conference

Source : PTI

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao took a jibe at the BJP over the Centre's alleged privatisation moves in the coal and energy sectors. While addressing a public meeting on  Friday, he launched a scathing attack accusing Congress of "selling off" the 49 per cent stake in the state-run miner Singareni Collieries and alleged that the BJP will make it "sink" fully. It is a government coal mining company which is jointly owned by the Telangana government and the Centre on a 51-49 per cent equity basis.

According to news agency PTI, KCR said that the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) founded during the Nizam era, is Telangana's own. The turnover of SCCL in 2014 (the year when Telangana was formed and when BRS came to power) stood at Rs 11,000 crores and now it has increased to Rs 33,000 crores. He accused Congress of selling a 49 per cent stake in the company to the Centre after it failed to repay loans. He said that the Centre on the other hand now talks about privatising coal mines and making SCCL 'sink'.

He said, "While the Congress made Singareni Collieries sink half, the BJP is now out to make it sink fully." He claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his word against the privatisation of SCCL during a visit to the state, however, tenders were called for the mines after he reached Bengaluru.

KCR further said, "You will be surprised if (I) tell you the 'Golmaal' behind this. There is no shortage of coal in the country. Along with Singareni, eastern coalfields, and western coalfields, all put together, 361 billion tons of coal have been found in the country and are available to people. But, what is happening in the country? When coal reserves of 361 billion tons are there in the country, they say we will privatise electricity, coal mines and close jobs related to electricity and hand over Singareni to private people. What is this bad policy? What is happening in the country?"

While talking about the steps taken by the state government to strengthen SCCL, he said that it would be expanded further and will transform into a great legal employee scheme. He claimed that coal in the nation is in abundance, which is not being used but more coal is being imported from Australia and Indonesia. He said that because of the injustice that the nation faces, TRS has changed to BRS in order to face the injustice and fight it across the country.

The Chief Minister highlighted the numerous welfare and development schemes of his government during the public meeting, including the distribution of free electricity to farmers, the Rythu Bandhu investment programme for farmers, the Rythu Beema life insurance programme for ryots, the provision of piped drinking water to households, and the success of water projects.

The state is set to go for polls towards the end of this year.