Centre has power to reserve coal blocks to SCCL: Vinod

Hyderabad: TRS senior leader and former MP B. Vinod Kumar on Sunday demanded that the Centre to reserve coal blocks for Singareni Collieries and Company Ltd (SCCL) instead of asking it to take part in an auction.

He said the Centre could reserve coal blocks for SCCL under Section 17A/ 11 A of the Mines and Mineral Act 1957.

He said SCCL possessed underground and open coal mines under the Godavari Valley Coal Field (GVCF) limits from where coal blocks could be reserved for the company under the 19057 legislation.

Vinod stated that the Centre had the provision to allocate four blocks under GVCF to SCCL but it was deliberately not doing so. He alleged that the Centre had auctioned the Koyalagudem coal block to private players.

"The PM says the Centre has no plans to privatise SCCL. But the
Centre's moves to auction coal fields in the SCCL region clearly shows that it wants to weaken SCCL by handing over coal fields to private players. What job SCCL would do in the absence of coal fields," Vinod asked.