KCR Promises To Protect Dependent Jobs At Singareni

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Friday reiterated the TRS administration's commitment to protect "dependent jobs" in Singareni Collieries.

KCR was addressing the media at TRS Bhavan this afternoon keeping in view the upcoming elections to the employees unions in the 11 divisions of Singareni Collieries. The ruling party's employees' wing TBGKS is in the election fray along with other unions belonging to the Congress, TDP and Left parties.

The employees union elections have become a matter of prestige for all the major political parties, especially the ruling TRS. And the Opposition parties seemed to have entered into a tacit understanding to corner and defeat the TRS' TBGKS mainly on the issue of jobs for the employees' dependents. Thus, in order to leave no stone unturned to ensure victory for the TBGKS, KCR explicitly said that he would work to protect dependant jobs (where the member of a family of an employee is given a job when the employee decides to voluntarily retire due to medical reasons).

Referring to the issue of dependent jobs in Singareni Collieries, the Chief Minister said that who wanted to retire on medical grounds but did not want a job for any dependants would be paid Rs. 25 lakhs as a one-time settlement (Rs. 12 lakhs earlier), or given Rs. 25,000 per month until death (Rs. 12,500 earlier). With regard to nearly 14,000 to 17,000 employees facing allegations of impersonation, the Chief Minister said that these jobs would be regularized under a one-time amnesty scheme.

Going on the offensive, KCR went hammer and tongs against the trade unions of the Opposition parties, especially that of the Congress, for their (as he put it) scuttling the revival of the dependents jobs under the compassionate appointments scheme by moving the courts. He charged that there were certain "gangs" sponsored by political parties operating in the state only to act as spokes in the wheel for the developmental and welfare programmes of the government. The main objective of these gangs was to move the courts on flimsy grounds with regard to works relating to projects and employment schemes, he alleged. In fact, one "gang" had filed as many as 17 cases when the TRS administration sought to revive the compassionate appointments scheme in Singareni Collieries, he said.

The Chief Minister further charged that the erstwhile employees unions affiliated to the national parties had completely neglected the health conditions of the Singareni employees, especially of those working in the underground mines. Besides, the wages of the employees were also very low. Unfortunately these crucial issues concerning the workers were neglected as the employees unions were more engaged in group politics than with the welfare of the employees, he said.

Pointing out that no new jobs were created in SCCL between 1989 and 2014, the Chief Minister said that after the TRS came to power in Telangana, as many 7,000 new jobs were created, that 3,527 dependent jobs were revived, and that nearly 600 employees who were rendered jobless by the management on flimsy grounds were reinstated.

The Chief Minister further said that the TRS administration had ensured that the Singareni employees were provided a 25% share in the profits of the company this year. The administration was also ensuring that an interest-free housing loan of Rs. 6 lakhs was provided to each employee. Apart from this, the state government was persuading the central government to grant IT exemption to the employees.