Date | Jan 05, 2017:

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekar Rao said that the government would open 11 new underground mines that would generate employment to 11,600 people in Singareni and also establish a medical college with a 500-bed super-speciality hospital.

Responding to several queries raised by the members during a short discussion, the Chief Minister also promised to enhance the age limit for dependent job-seekers from 35 years to 40 years as requested by the members.

He also promised to consider demands made by Congress member T. Jeevan Reddy on changing the cut-off date from October 11, 2016 to 2014 and also reinstating employees dismissed for ‘indiscipline’ after taking into consideration all the legal issues.

TDP floor leader Revanth Reddy raised the issue of Singareni entering into a joint venture with a private company paying Rs. 50 crore, but the work was yet to start.

The CM said the money has already been confiscated by the government. BJP floor leader G. Kishan Reddy also raised several issues related to ‘scams’ that have caused a huge financial damage to the institution. The Chief Minister agreed that there were some irregularities previously and action has been initiated in several cases.

The Chief Minister said a committee of Ministers from both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh would be formed soon to look into the dues to be paid to Singareni by APGENCO and TSGENCO. He said the AP Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, agreed to sort out the issue with the Ministers’ Committee.

Earlier, the Chief Minister hailed the contribution of Singareni to Telangana and said in tune with their demands, the Telangana government has revived the Dependent Job Right abolished in 1998.

As on date, Singareni has 46 mines, of which 30 were underground and 16 were open cast mines employing 56,866 persons.

He said underground mines were producing 17 per cent of coal with 61 per cent workforce while open cast mines were producing 82 per cent coal with 18 per cent workforce.

Continuation of open cast mines were necessary to negate the losses incurred by the underground mines.

The CM said Singareni has registered 15 per cent growth after the formation of Telangana while it was mere 3 per cent between 2009 and 2014. For the first time in the Singareni history, 23 per cent of profit (Rs. 245 crore) was given to the workers.

(Source: http://www.thehindu.com/)