No plan to privatise Singareni Collieries Company (SCCL): Joshi

Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday said that there is no plan to privatise PSU miner Singareni Collieries Company (SCCL).

Joshi was responding to Congress MP Uttam Kumar Reddy on alleged privatisation of Singareni Colleries Ltd (SCCL) in Lok Sabha.

Joshi said SCCL is a joint ownership of Telangana government and the centre on a 51:49 equity basis. Since the government of Telangana is the majority stakeholder with 51 per cent, it is not possible for government of India to privatise SCCL.

Responding to another query from Reddy on auction of coal blocks in Telangana, the Minister said since the launch of auctions, no one is raising objections against the transparent system adopted by the Centre.

The Minister said, "Auction is also beneficial to the States which are adopting auctions. If the States want, they can participate. Many State Govts are cooperating for auctions. States like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand have also adopted auctions even though BJP is not the ruling party in those States. The entire revenue through auctions are going to the state governments."

"Those who were involved in coal scam does not want a transparent system of auction," Joshi said.