Telangana industries minister D Sridhar Babu has accused the previous BRS government of mismanaging Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), while defending the Congress government’s handling of coal supplies, outstanding dues and operational reforms at the state-owned mining company.
The minister was responding to allegations by BRS working president KT Rama Rao regarding Singareni’s management and the Telangana government’s position on a possible Central Bureau of Investigation probe. Sridhar Babu rejected the allegations and said the Congress government had brought greater transparency to SCCL’s governance.
Sridhar Babu alleged that the BRS had treated Singareni “like an ATM” and claimed that a commission-based culture had influenced tenders during its ten-year tenure under former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. He asked BRS leaders to produce evidence for their allegations, saying it was inappropriate to make “baseless allegations” for political purposes.
The minister also alleged that the previous government had failed to clear dues owed to Singareni and had pushed the organisation into a debt trap through outstanding payments linked to power utilities. He further alleged that the Yadadri Thermal Power Plant was built with technical defects and described it as a project affected by alleged irregularities.
A central point in the dispute is the availability and supply of G-9 grade coal for thermal power generation. According to Sridhar Babu, G-9 coal is currently being produced from nine Singareni mines. Over the past decade, an average of approximately 4 million tonnes of G-9 coal was supplied annually to thermal power plants covered by fuel supply agreements.
The minister said Singareni had supplied more than 25 million tonnes of coal to thermal power plants in Telangana and other states so far this year. Of that quantity, 1.20 million tonnes was G-9 grade coal, including 0.52 million tonnes supplied to Telangana GENCO power plants, according to his statement.
Sridhar Babu said a fuel supply agreement for 14 million tonnes of G-9 coal annually to the Yadadri plant had been signed during the BRS government’s tenure. He said the agreement was based on expected production from new mines that Singareni was expected to develop. The minister questioned why those mines were not established.
He specifically referred to the Koyagudem-3 and Sattupalli-3 coal blocks, which he said Singareni did not secure because the company did not participate in coal block auctions conducted by the Central government. He alleged that the decision cost Singareni the opportunity to produce nearly 10 million tonnes of quality coal annually.
The dispute places the performance of Singareni at the intersection of coal production, public-sector finances and Telangana’s thermal power supply. The minister said the Congress government’s objective was to increase Singareni’s wealth and share its benefits with the people. His statement did not include details of any new inquiry, repayment schedule or revised fuel supply agreement.
