Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao today asked the workers of the Singareni collieries to refuse to give bribes to anyone, and instead slap them with chappals (slippers).
The CM said this during a warm thanksgiving meeting with the Singareni workers at Pragathi Bhavan. The TRS-backed union won a by thumping majority in last week's employee union elections.
KCR also said that he would soon take up a tour of Singareni.
"I will come to you to ascertain your problems and get checked my own BP at the same hospital where you take treatment," he said. "I will focus on the existing problems in the mines. I am sorry that we neglected the SCCL for three years after getting into power, and we will make up now," he said.
He also said that six underground mines would be opened to provide jobs to about 6,000 persons.
The Chief Minister also said that jobs in Singareni were not that good as workers involved in mining activities worked in hazardous conditions. "We will therefore soon provide air conditioning to the miners at their residences, and provide more facilities at the hospitals," he promised.
He also said that the canteen facility would be improved to offer better food to the workers, that a holiday would be given to the workers on Ambedkar Jayanthi, and that the company would bear the expenses for the studies of the workers' children if the latter got seats in the IITs or IIMs.
He also stated that the government had set aside about Rs 375 crores for the welfare of the workers, and to give salaries as per the new pay scales. The government was also ready to reduce its share of the income from Singareni by up to Rs 50 crores and offer loans of Rs 10 lakhs per worker, he said. He also announced better health facilities to the parents of the workers through referral hospitals.