T-leaders' Singareni bus yatra scuttled

15 JAC leaders arrested in Warangal district

In a pre-emptive scoop the police have arrested 15 T-JAC leaders, including its convener Prof Kodandaram near Janagaon of Warangal district as the party tried entering Kothagudem coal mines. Janagon DSP Nagaraj said Kodandaram was arrested under section 151, for assembly of five or more persons likely to cause a disturbance of the public peace.

The other group led by TRS leader Nayanai Narsimha Reddy was stopped at Jillela in Sircilla of Karimnagar district and they were shifted to Sicilla police station.

The T-JAC on Saturday decided to send two teams, one to Kothagudeam and other to Goavarikhani in an effort to show solidarity to the coal miners who have successfully stalled coal production leading to power outages in almost all Southern states. The police, amid high drama, sent the bus along with the T-JAC leaders back to Hyderabad.

However, TRS workers tried to stop the police convoy near Aleru, prompting police to shift Prof Kodandaram to Aleru PS.

“The state government should immediately release Kodandaram,” demanded TRS Chief K Chandrasekhar Rao here.

Several organisations involved with the Sakala JAnula Samme also warned serious repercussions if Kodandaram and his entourage are not allowed to visit Kothagudem.

The AP government which is trying to end the 25-day old workers’ strike at India’s second largest mine -Singareni Collieries (SCCL)- is determined to encourage coal production with the help of a few part timers as the strikers show no sign of getting back to work.

“All I can say is we are not in a good shape,” said S Narsing Rao, CMD, SCCL .
“We have stopped supplies to almost all of the small customers which include cement, ceramic and other industries,” he said.

The company has lost more than 2.8 million tonne production since the strike began. “It is impossible to recover this given our tight schedule,” Rao said, adding that the company had anticipated net revenues of Rs 82000 crore during this fiscal and Rs 350 crore is already lost due to the strike.

State-owned power utility APGenco has a fuel supply agreement for 12.25 MT with SCCL, but ends up taking more in view of the precarious power situation in Andhra Pradesh. NTPC (10-MT), Karnataka (3-MT) and Maharashtra (2.5-MT) are the other major customers affected by the Sakala Janula Samme.