Overview
- The Union Coal Ministry approved allocation of the Tadicherla‑II coal block to Singareni Collieries Company Limited without an auction, a move the ministry says was signed off by the Union minister and cleared at the Centre.
- Union minister G. Kishan Reddy described the block as holding roughly 182 million tonnes with about 6 million tonnes a year output, a 40–50 year life span, lifetime revenues the ministry projects to exceed ₹64,000 crore and auction-cost savings of about ₹2,550 crore for SCCL.
- Telangana leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, say the action is the long‑pending grant of a mining lease for a block allotted to SCCL in 2013 and are demanding that all Godavari Basin blocks be given to SCCL on a government‑to‑government basis.
- Political parties in Telangana are contesting credit for the outcome, with BJP officials lauding the Centre and BRS and state Congress figures citing past state efforts and unions for securing the block's return to SCCL.
- The allocation could materially affect SCCL’s finances, employment and state revenues if production begins, and it raises new questions about pending leases, forest clearances, auctions in tribal areas and calls to restore SCCL’s central PSU status.