HYDERABAD: The Telangana government is not inclined to allow auction of coal blocks and stands by its position that coal blocks should be given to the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), energy minister G Jagadish Reddy said on Saturday. Replying to questions on whether Singareni coal mines were being auctioned in the state, Jagadish Reddy replied in the negative.
On the question of auctioning of four coal blocks by the Union coal ministry, he made it clear that both the state government and SCCL had decided not to take part in the auction. He said that both the government and SCCL had requested the coal ministry for reservation, allocation of coal bearing areas in Telangana in the Godavari Valley Coal Fields to SCCL under Section 17A/11A of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. But Centre had not agreed, the minister said.
Explaining the government’s stand that coal-bearing areas should be given to SCCL, Jagadish Reddy said, “Our efforts are to ensure no one come for the auction. Private companies know how tough the Chief Minister is.”
Though the Chief Minister and the state government wrote more than once to the Centre on this issue, the state was told that it should bid in the auction for the coal blocks that are still to be mined, he said.
