Based on inputs received from Comrade Alavandar Venu Madhav
The Singareni Collieries Workers’ union with more than 16000 members gave a Strike notice to the management of The Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL). The notice warns that the workers will strike work from 8th August 2026 onwards if their charter of demands is not redressed. (Charter of demands attached). The list of demands includes:
– Filling up all vacant posts
– Payment of 40% profit sharing bonus for the financial year 2025-26
– Recovering the outstanding dues of approximately 56,000 crore from TGGENCO and TGTRANSCO (which are Telangana state government power generation and power transmission companies)
– Extending High Power Committee wages and provide medical and educational facilities to contract workers
– Ensure adequate supply of safety and production related materials
– Free treatment for retired employees in Singareni Hospitals
It is well known that around 80,000 retired workers of SCCL have also been fighting for a respectable pension since last many years. But whether the demands are raised by retired workers or by permanent workers, SCCL management always cites financial inability and refuses to concede their demands. But the following details clearly reveal that retired or current workers of SCCL are not at all responsible for financial problems faced by SCCL, but the policy of “non-payment of dues to SCCL” is the only cause for the financial difficulties of SCCL.
SCCL is a Public Sector Enterprise with Telangana State government having 51% shares and Central government having 49% shares.
It Operates both underground and opencast mines in the Godavari Valley Coalfields of Telangana. It is India’s second-largest government-owned coal producer and the only major coal mining company in South India. It produces around 9% of India’s domestic coal. SCCL currently employs around 40,000 permanent workers and around 30,000 contract workers. It employed nearly 58,500 permanent workers in 2015–16, but due to mechanization and retirements, the number has drastically reduced.
SCCL has been supplying huge quantities of coal to state-owned power generation companies. SCCL also operates the 1,200 MW Singareni Thermal Power Plant (STPP) and sells electricity under a long-term Power Purchase Agreement to Telangana power utilities. It thus has played a vital role in powering industries, thermal power plants, cement factories, and the economic development of Telangana and South India for more than a century.
SCCL management has repeatedly raised concerns that state power-sector entities have not been clearing payments on time, creating major financial problems for SCCL. This is the main reason as to why SCCL has struggled to spend more aggressively on modernization.
Total outstanding dues to SCCL reported in public domain were over ₹29,000 crore out of which roughly ₹19,000 crore accumulated during 2014–2023 when Bharat Rashtra Samithi BRS government was in power (erstwhile Telangana Rashtra Samiti TRS) , and about ₹10,000 crore accumulated after December 2023 since the Congress government assumed power in December 2023. The dues relate to both coal supplied by SCCL to state thermal power stations, and electricity supplied from the Singareni Collieries Company Limited-owned Singareni Thermal Power Plant (1,200 MW) to Telangana power utilities. The actual dues may be much higher as alleged by union in its strike notice quoted above.
While the Telangana State government does not pay dues to SCCL, it has given a large number of private companies including Adani Defence Systems and Technologies Limited, VEM Technologies, Welspun Group, Karbonn Mobiles, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Infosys, TCS, Novartis etc. tax incentives, land at highly discounted rate, and infrastructure support all amounting to tens of thousands of crore. Telangana State government’s own dashboard shows that from April 2021 to May 2026, 34,691 investment-subsidy applications, 5,650 power-cost reimbursement applications, and 1,613 SGST/VAT reimbursement applications were approved.
This once again highlights the fact that various parties in power whether at the Centre or State level, do their best to serve the capitalist class while the working people have to foot the bill.
Upload.SCWU strike notice