Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has assured to resolve the problems being faced by the workers of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL).
The TPCC Chief, along with Leader of Opposition in Council Shabbir Ali, ex-minister D. Sridhar Babu, Makhan Singh and other leaders, had an interaction with the leaders of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) on Monday morning at Yellundu Guest House in Godavarikhani. The INTUC leaders briefed the Congress leaders on various long pending issues pertaining to the Singareni workers.
Uttam Kumar Reddy was in Ramagundam today as part of Congress Praja Chaitanya Bus Yatra.
Addressing a press conference later, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Congress party, when voted to power in next elections, would regularise all contract workers of Singareni. He accused the TRS Government of cheating the contract workers on the promise of regularisation. Similarly, he said that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has cheated the SCCL workers on Dependent Jobs issue. He said that the petitioner who approached the High Court against Dependent Jobs was a leader of Telangana Jagruthi, the NGO of TRS MP and CM’s daughter K. Kavitha. Therefore, he said it was TRS Government which indirectly stopped the implementation of Dependent Jobs in SCCL. Likewise, he said the problems of Dismissed Workers too remained unresolved.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Chief Minister never gave an appointment to union leaders to listen to their grievances. He said that KCR, during 2014 elections, had promised to spend at least two hours in a week to interact with SCCL unions. However, he said that the Chief Minister had so far interacted with the SCCL employees’ only twice – Once in 2014 and second time during SCCL union elections.
The TPCC chief said that the SCCL workers had played a major role not only in the formation of Telangana, but also in making KCR the Chief Minister. He said the TRS won almost all the seats in the coal belt in last election. However, today all the Sinagreni workers and their families were feeling cheated and betrayed. He said KCR had promised to sign the first file pertaining to Singareni workers’ welfare. But even after four years, KCR Government did nothing to resolve the pending issues.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the previous Congress Government used to provide Rs. 10 lakh interest free housing loan to all workers. However, this was discontinued by the TRS Government He promised that the next Congress Government would revive the scheme and it would be extended to personal loan. He said workers were being paid only Rs. 2,000 for excavation of three tonnes of coal instead of Rs. 3,000. He said this issue will also be resolved. He said not a single new mine has been started after TRS came to power.
The TPCC Chief accused SCCL Managing Director Sridhar of implementing political agenda while showing inclination towards TRS party. He said a paid holiday was declared when KCR visited Singareni and the rent of buses which were hired to transport workers to CM’s meeting was paid by the company. He said this was misuse of public money for political gains and an IAS officer. He said that the Congress Government would order a probe into these irregularities against IAS officer Sridhar.
Uttam Kumar Reddy also accused the TRS Government of misusing the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds of SCCL in non-Singareni areas. He alleged that the SCCL funds were spent in CM’s constituency Gajwel, KTR’s constituency Sircilla and Finance Minister Eatala Rajender’s constituency Huzurabad.
Later, the TPCC Chief and other Congress leaders visited ‘Ramagundam B’ Thermal Power Station. He demanded the revival of the first thermal power project of the Ramagundam region. He said that the previous Congress regime had planned to upgrade the power plant to 1300 MWs and also allocated Rs. 7,300 crore in the budget in 2013. However, the TRS Government is preparing to close down the plant. (NSS)