Harish Rao Writes To Kishan Reddy Seeking CBI Probe Into SCCL

BRS MLA and former minister Harish Rao today urged Union Minister for Coal and Mines Kishan Reddy to initiate a CBI investigation into all the tenders and policy decisions taken by the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) after 2024.

Rao shared a letter addressed to the Union minister with the media at Telangana Bhavan prior to his appearance before the SIT in the phone-tapping case.

The BRS MLA said that SCCL had introduced a site visit certificate requirement for bidding on tenders after 2024, a practice unprecedented in the company's history and one not followed by Coal India Limited.

He said that following the introduction of this requirement, several tenders were cancelled and contracts were awarded at rates 7%-10% higher than expected.

This, he said, stood in stark contrast to national trends, where OB coal block tenders were typically awarded at prices 10%-22% lower.

Historically, SCCL had awarded contracts at rates 7%, 8%, 10% or even 20% lower, Rao claimed.

He alleged that the systematic cancellation of competitively awarded contracts and their reallocation at inflated prices indicated a deliberate undermining of fair competition, resulting in significant financial losses to SCCL.

The BRS MLA also said that the long-established practice of purchasing bulk diesel directly from IOCL was discontinued, with the responsibility for diesel supply shifted to contractors. According to him, this change increased project costs and imposed an unnecessary GST burden.

"These decisions lack transparent justification, which raises serious concerns about possible manipulation driven by commissions. Alarmingly, the Central Government-nominated directors on the SCCL Board, whose primary duty is to safeguard SCCL's interests, have remained silent," Rao said.

He also said that Singareni had been operating without a regular Chairman and Managing Director for the past two years.

He stressed that only a CBI investigation could objectively assess the legality and intent behind the site visit certification system, the cancellation of competitive tenders and their subsequent re-award at inflated rates, and the discontinuation of bulk diesel procurement, and identify any possible collusion among political officials, contractors, SCCL personnel and board members.