Singareni aims to achieve 900 lakh tonnes coal production by 2020-21

Hyderabad, Jan 5 (IANS) Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) will develop 20 opencast and 11 underground mines to reach the production target of about 900 lakh tonnes per year by 2020-21.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao told the state assembly on Thursday that this expansion would ensure coal supply to all thermal power stations in the state, as well as several industries.

About 11,000 more jobs would also be created, he said.

In his statement he also told the assembly about the steps being taken for strengthening and expanding the company and the welfare of its employees.

Terming the 125-year-old Singareni the pride of Telangana, the Chief Minister said it was now expanding its operations to other states.

SCCL started operations in the block allocated by the Centre at Naini Mines in Odisha.

Singareni, in which the Telangana government holds a 51 per cent stake while the remaining is held by the Centre, was also making efforts for overseas acquisitions.

Rao said Singareni officials visited Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, China, Germany, France, Britain and Canada to explore possibilities.

"About 13 companies all over the world have expressed interest to work with Singareni. However, due to fall in the prices of coal internationally, the matter is kept pending for the time being," he said.

Foraying into power production, Singareni has set up a 1,200 MW plant which was dedicated to the nation in August 2016. Efforts were on to establish another 800 MW plant by Singareni shortly.

Being the only power producing company in South India it was helping thermal power plants in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

About 600 lakh tonnes of coal is produced by Singareni every year. Of this, 78.71 per cent is used for the generation of thermal power.

SCCL currently has 46 mines, of which, 30 were underground and 16 were opencast mines. It has 56,866 employees.

Though the underground mining was causing losses, the state government has continued with it as 61 per cent of the workforce was employed there.

KCR, as Rao is popularly known, said Singareni registered a 15 per cent growth in 2015-16, surpassing Coal India and other public sector undertakings.

It earned a Rs 1,066 crore profit in 2015-16. He said the government rewarded the workers for their hard work by paying them 23 per cent profit (Rs 245 crore), the highest in the company's history.

He said each worker was paid Rs one to Rs 1.25 lakh as Deepavali and Dussehra bonus.

KCR said they were excavating the 'Black Gold' to create prosperity for realising the dream of 'Bangaru (Golden) Telangana.'