Revanth Reddy backs SCCL strike; wants Telangana to buy Central stake

Hyderabad: Telangana PCC president A Revanth Reddy on Friday announced total support to the 72-hour-long strike by the employees of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) to protest the Union government's decision to privatise four coal blocks.

He demanded the State government purchase 49 per cent stake held by the Centre to stop the privatisation of SCCL. He also wanted the government to clear Rs 13,000 crore dues to the company.

In a statement, Reddy alleged that the TRS government was equally responsible for the privatization decision. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was trying to wash off his hands by just writing a letter to the Centre against proposed privatisation of four coal blocks. He said despite being the majority shareholder in SCCL, KCR did not question the Centre's decision and that his recent letter to PM Modi was just an 'eye-wash'.

He said the Centre did nothing to explore the huge coal reserves in the country to increase production. Instead, it took measures to cripple the output to benefit a few select private companies. "If coal blocks are allocated to private companies, they might create artificial shortage so as to increase the prices of coal and power. This will put a huge burden on people. Further, the livelihood of nearly one lakh families, including 75,000 SCCL employees, will be at stake. The privatisation will end the job opportunities and leave thousands of employees jobless, Reddy feared.