No proposal to privatise Singareni, says PM Modi

Ramagundam: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said privatisation of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is not under the consideration of the Centre.

Addressing a public meeting of farmers after dedicating the Ramagundam Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (RFCL) plant to the national, national highway and railway projects here on Saturday, he dismissed the news that the Centre was planning to privatise SCCL as a rumour spread by "traders of lies from Hyderabad".

He asked people not to take them seriously and let the 'traders of lies" remain in Hyderabad.

Calling the attendance of farmers might make them lose their sleep tonight, Modi pointed out how farmers in the country had to face a tough time in availing the urea earlier, and also how the imported urea had been diverted to the black market. Moreover, several brands of urea in the market were taking farmers for a ride. Farmers were getting confused about the quantum of urea that needed to be applied to their land.

To address these issues, Modi said, steps have been taken by the Centre from neem coating of urea to prevent diversion to the distribution of soil health cards for farmers to know the usage of urea.

The Prime Minister said that it was decided to revive five urea plants that were shut down due to outdated technologies. Of these, one is at Ghorakpur in UP and another one is the RFCL in Ramagundam, have been revived and gone into production. He said these efforts have been taken to bring self-reliance in the urea sector in the country as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat.

The RFCL plant would provide urea on time to the farmers in Telangana, besides, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chattisgarh and Maharashtra. Apart from supplying fertilizers, it will also provide local people jobs, boosting overall economic development, with the development of road and rail connectivity, and ancillary businesses, he said.

The country has also developed the latest technology for Nano Urea which is cost-effective and efficient, and there will be only one brand of urea in the country, and that is Bharat Urea, he added.

The Prime Minister explained how the Centre has been taking up an integrated approach in giving a much-needed push to the infrastructure development and said, the 'PM Gatishakti National Master Plan' has improved connectivity to even the remotest areas within the country.

The confident and aspirational India of the 21 century has clarity of vision of the road ahead and it could achieve the target within a minimum period in completing the projects.

The whole world and experts see India on the trajectory of becoming the third-largest economy in the world. This is despite the whole world has been impacted by Covid and the ongoing war. He added that development is the 24-hour and 365-day mission of his government.

Earlier, special economic zones took several years for providing water, power and roads and took decades in the completion of the projects. However, the Centre has been reforming the system, and now all the stakeholders of the projects working on them decide on projects. He said that the

The Bhadradri-Kotagudem railway line would benefit people and the power sector of the State, besides the Khammam district.

Similarly, the Hyderabad-Warangal highway would benefit the Kakatiya Mega Textile Park. The logistical connectivity would provide new jobs and create economic opportunities besides ease of access to the people, the PM said.