Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and his deputy Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 4, 2024, and submitted a written representation. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Telangana State Government has requested the Central Government to allot the Sravanapalli coal mining block to public sector coal miner Singareni Collieries Company Limited.
The Government expressed concern that the coal block was added to the list of blocks put up for auction and requested the Centre to allot the mine to SCCL, a joint venture with Telangana holding 51% share and the Centre having 49%. “The Centre should remove the coal block from the auction list in line with Section 11A/17A of the Mines and Mineral Development Act and allot it to SCCL,” the government said in a representation submitted to the Centre.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and his deputy Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday and submitted a written representation. The Centre should also take steps to allot Koyagudem Block 3 and Sattupalli Block 3 mines to the coal miner under the MMDR Act as they were of crucial importance for meeting the power requirements of Telangana.
The Chief Minister and Mr. Bhatti Vikramarka submitted separate representations on 12 issues including funds due to be released to the State, assurances given to the State in the AP Reorganisation Act and transfer of Defence lands pending assurances to the Prime Minister. The Chief Minister requested the Prime Minister to sanction an Indian Institute of Management to Telangana and lamented that though the Centre had made it a policy to set up branches of the premier institution in all the States, Telangana did not get the IIM. He said adequate land was available in the campus of Hyderabad Central University for setting up the IIM and the State was prepared to sanction an alternative site if the Centre requested it.
The Chief Minister recalled the assurance given by the then Central Government to set up an Information Technology Investment Region each in Bengaluru and Hyderabad in 2010, but there was no progress in its implementation after the change in Government in 2014. The State Government had identified land in three clusters for encouraging new IT companies and IT space developers, he said requesting the Prime Minister to revive the ITIR project for Telangana.
The Centre had also assured setting up an integrated rail coach factory at Kazipet during the bifurcation of the State, but the Railway Ministry had announced setting up of a periodic overhauling workshop in its place in July 2023. “Though coach factories were sanctioned for other States, Railway Ministry had ruled out scope for setting up an integrated coach factory in Kazipet,” he said urging the Prime Minister to take steps to set up the rail coach factory as assured.
The Chief Minister requested the Prime Minister to include Telangana in the India Semiconductor Mission as several major companies had evinced keenness in setting up fab units in Hyderabad. The issue was under review by the Mission and the Centre should take steps to ensure that Telangana found a place in it.
On the Housing front, Mr. Revanth Reddy sought sanction of 25 lakh houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to the State as the State did not get its due in the first phase of allotment. This was because of a mismatch in the guidelines prepared by the previous Government and those issued by the Centre. Keeping this in view, the Centre should sanction 25 lakh units to Telangana under the second phase in 2024-25, he said assuring that the State was prepared to modify the PMAY guidelines to suit the Centre’s requirements.
He also requested the release of ₹1,800 crore under the backward regions grant fund for Telangana. Though the State secured ₹2,250 crore for five years since its formation, the release of ₹450 crore a year, ₹50 crore each for nine backward districts in the State, was stopped since 2019.
The State Government sought the transfer of 2,450 acres of Defence lands for taking up the elevated corridors on the Hyderabad-Karimnagar and Hyderabad-Nagpur highways to ease traffic congestion. The State Government had assured that it was prepared to transfer 2,462 acres of land at Raviryal which was leased to the Central Government institution Research Centre Imarat.
The Chief Minister also requested the Centre to consider setting up an integrated steel plant at Bayyaram as assured in the Reorganisation Act, support the State in the development of Regional Ring Road, upgradation of State highways as national highways and sanction 24 Jawahar Navodaya schools so that there was one Navodaya school in every district.
