Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday asked the management of Singareni Collieries to explore the possibility of mining in coal rich countries where several Indian companies had already started operations.
The officials of Singareni informed Mr. Rao that Zambia, Mozambique and Chile had offered their coal blocks to be mined on government-to-government basis but countries such as Australia, Indonesia and South Africa permitted only private players.
The rules in such countries should be studied to know if governments could be allowed to take up mining. In this context, Mr. Rao asked a ten- member delegation comprising the Singareni chairman Sutirtha Bhattacharya, his predecessor S. Narsing Rao and union leaders to visit the countries and submit a report, a release said.
Privileged institutionThe Chief Minister felt that the participation of the country in global bidding would make it a privileged institution though it was the oldest coal company in the world.
He asked the management to protect the lands of the company in Andhra Pradesh, including Kondapally in Krishna district, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, by fencing. Mr. Rao also asked the company to allot 400 acres at Ramagundam and 2,000 acres at Manuguru to Telangana generation corporation to enable it to set up units.
Similarly, the Ramagundam super thermal power station of NTPC required 1,500 acres of Singareni land to provide the mandatory 4,000 MW to Telangana.
Four super speciality hospitals of the company should be constructed in each of the four districts in coal belt and, thereby, a medical college could also come up, he added.
Telangana incrementThe coal workers should get Telangana increment on the lines of government staff and their absence from duties during agitations treated as special leave.
Mr. Bhattacharya assured Mr. Rao that two power plants of Singareni of 600 MW each would be ready for commissioning by November next year.
