Rs 1.54L Dasara bonanza for Singareni staff

Metro India News | Hyderabad : Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Tuesday announced that each permanent employee of state-run Singareni Collieries would receive an average profit share of Rs 1,53,912 for the Dasara festival. The Singareni Collieries Company Limited is a government coal mining company jointly owned by the Telangana government and the Government of India, with equity stakes of 51 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively.

Vikramarka said 38,737 permanent employees would benefit from the decision. In addition, 29,717 contract workers would receive a bonus of Rs 5,500 each.

He said the government had decided to distribute 34 per cent of Singareni's profits among workers, continuing the practice followed in previous years.

The company earned a net profit of Rs 1,754 crore this year, of which Rs 596 crore would be distributed among workers as their profit share.

Vikramarka, who holds the Finance and Energy portfolios, said the government was equally committed to the welfare of permanent employees and contract workers.

He said the government was determined to fulfil Singareni employees' long-standing aspiration of owning houses.

"We will give the highest priority to workers' welfare and the future of their families. Long-pending issues will be resolved, and justice will be delivered to eligible workers. We are preparing a special action plan to provide housing opportunities to Singareni employees and workers," he told reporters here, flanked by state Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu and ruling Congress MLAs.

The deputy CM directed officials to identify Singareni-owned land where mining had not been undertaken and prepare suitable layouts for housing.

He instructed them to formulate an action plan to establish a housing colony named after former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who promoted a mixed economy and strengthened public-sector enterprises.

Vikramarka recalled that, of the 5,774 acres returned by Singareni to the Revenue Department, 4,500 acres had been distributed as house-site pattas to the poor during the previous Congress government headed by the late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in undivided Andhra Pradesh.

He said the Singareni management had been directed to expedite the issuance of house-site pattas to eligible beneficiaries for the remaining approximately 1,250 acres.

He said officials had been instructed to complete pending formalities relating to around 250-300 dependent employment orders within the next 15 days and issue appointment orders to eligible candidates. Between 136 and 170 pending cases involving changes in workers' names would also be examined from a humanitarian perspective, he said. He instructed officials to examine the possibility of reinstating, through a one-time option, workers who had lost their jobs because they could not report for duty during the Covid-19 pandemic or for other reasons.