HYDERABAD

Former Minister and senior leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) T. Harish Rao has criticised the State government for not declaring bonus, workers’ share in the profits of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL), though Dasara festival is approaching.

In a meeting with the representatives of Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham, a Singareni trade union affiliated to BRS, and public representatives of the party from the coal belt areas here on Thursday, he said giving workers their share of profits before Dasara had been a long-standing practice.

Speaking to the mediapersons after the meeting, he said Singareni had been facing serious problems since the Congress party came to power. The problems were affecting not only workers but also officers, he said.

He stated that during the BRS regime in the past, the workers received a 32% share of profits. After Congress came to power, the share was reduced to 16% in the first year, despite the government speaking about a higher percentage, and it was further slashed to only 12.5% for 2024–25, he said.

Questioning the sharp fall in Singareni’s profits, the BRS leader said the company made ₹2,022 crore profit in 2022–23, ₹4,712 crore in 2023–24 and ₹6,394 crore in 2024–25. But, profits for the current year were not declared yet. According to the information available to the BRS, the company’s profit might not cross ₹1,800 crore this year, he said.

He said the fall in profits could not be blamed on workers as Singareni workers were hard working. Output per man shift had increased from 6.39 tonnes earlier to 7.56 tonnes. Workers were giving their best, but poor decisions and administrative failures were affecting the company, he observed.

Mr. Rao attributed the delays in tenders, the introduction of the Site Visit Certificate condition and awarding tenders at higher prices were among the reasons for the problems in Singareni. He also alleged that some works were given to people close to the ruling party and demanded an inquiry into such decisions.

On workers’ housing rights, he said GO 76 was issued by the KCR government in 2019 with the aim of providing ownership rights to Singareni workers. Around 30,000 houses in Singareni areas were registered and handed over to workers, but after Congress came to power, the implementation of GO 76 was stopped and several workers’ plots were included in the prohibited list, he alleged.

He demanded that the government immediately provide sale deeds and ownership rights to all remaining eligible workers under GO 76. He stated that the BRS and TBGKS would hold a “Singareni Karmikula Garjana” meet at Ramagundam on October 14 to highlight the problems of Singareni workers and in support of their demands.