SCCL to mine coal from Odisha mines next year, says Bhatti

Hyderabad: Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Monday said Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) will begin coal production from Naini coal blocks in Odisha from March next year, capping the years-long efforts of the state-based collieries to expand its operations nationally.

The minister said the company plans to set up a 1,600 megawatt coal-based power project near the mining block and urged Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Manji to allocate land for the power plant. Bhatti was speaking at the third national mining ministers conference at Konark.

Initially, the SCCL planned to transport the coal to the 800 MW Singareni Thermal Power Plant (STPP) at Jaipur in Mancherial district, which is located 1,000 km away from Naini block. To reduce operational and transportation costs, Bhatti said, the government, had decided to set up a pithead overplant at Naini.

The Union coal ministry had allocated the Naini coal block to SCCL in 2015. Located in the Mahanadi coalfield, it is an opencast mine with a production capacity of 10 million tonnes per year. The mine's total mining area lease is 912.79 hectares.

The company could not begin mining because of strained relations between the BRS government in Telangana and the BJP government at the Centre which delayed handing over forest land to the company for mining.

Union coal minister G. Kishan Reddy took up the issue with the newly-elected BJP government in Odisha and got the transfer of 643 hectares of forest land to SCCL approved in July 2024.

Bhatti said the revenue from mining for the Telangana government had increased from Rs.1,958 crore in 2014 to Rs.5,440 crore in 2023-24. The state has started the process for auction of 32 big mining blocks including limestone and manganese by 2025-26.

Congratulating Kishan Reddy for conducting the national conference, the state ministeri said the state has carried out the Differential Global Positioning System survey along with Electronic Total Station survey to conduct the mineral availability audit in the state.

Stating that 2,552 mining leases were in operation in the state, Bhatti said that the district mining foundations got Rs.5,537 crore while carrying out the auction of mines in their respective districts and the amount would be spent in the service sector for construction of schools among others.