The Telangana government is exploring the possibility of buying the Government of India?s shareholding in Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) to make it a Telangana state-owned company.
Chief minister of the state, K Chandrashekar Rao, while reviewing the activities of SCCL, on Monday directed officials to initiate steps in this regard. Rao said that under the Centre?s disinvestment policy, the possibility of buying out the GoI?s stake in the company appeared to be ?very bright?. Singareni Collieries pays about Rs 1,200 crore by way of royalty to the Centre every year, besides paying between Rs 1,500 crore and Rs 1,600 crore to the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh state government, as sum that will now accrue to the Telangana government.
The decision emerged during a review meeting the chief minister had with officials of the mining company, apart from S Narsing Rao, principal secretary to the chief minister, here on Monday. The meeting was attended by Sutirtha Bhattacharya, chairman and managing director Singareni Collieries; Ramesh Kumar, director operations Singareni Collieries; and Raji Reddy, union leader of SCCL.
It was also decided to start opening of at least two underground mines by this year.