Published Jan 31, 2026 | 6:00 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 31, 2026 | 6:00 PM
Coal mining. Representational Image. (iStock)
Synopsis: The immediate basis of the present controversy is the Naini coal mine tender process. Alleging that irregularities occurred in this process, that attempts were made to benefit a particular company, and that rules were altered for that purpose, BRS leaders, including the principal opposition leader T. Harish Rao, demanded a CBI inquiry.
Like a drizzle turning into a storm, a news report aired by a television channel kept circling around and finally led back into the story of coal scams.
Unverifiable accounts began circulating that this TV report had actually originated in a tussle over who should get a coal block mining contract; that two ministers backed two different contracting companies; that a minister wielding power took a decision favouring one company; that another minister tried to block it; and that the resultant commotion gave rise to this report.
Before speaking about the coal scam itself, one needs to examine how this dispute became politicised in the first place, and how, in the process of becoming a political controversy, all talk of public interest was systematically erased.
For the ruling party as well as the two opposition parties, the coal scam has become both a platform and a weapon for mutual accusations and counter-accusations. Were there no coal scams during your time, some ask; or were there no scams at all during your tenure? Some allege that this scam was dragged onto the stage only to divert attention when some other scam was about to be exposed.
Some demand CBI and Supreme Court inquiries—not just into this single affair, but into all tenders issued over the last twelve years. Everyone is throwing coal dust at one another in abundance. In the end, all their white khadi shirts have been blackened with coal soot.
The immediate basis of the present controversy is the Naini coal mine tender process. Alleging that irregularities occurred in this process, that attempts were made to benefit a particular company, and that rules were altered for that purpose, BRS leaders, including the principal opposition leader T. Harish Rao, demanded a CBI inquiry.
K. T. Rama Rao went further and called for an investigation under the supervision of the Supreme Court, stating that the tender conditions were imposed in an extremely corrupt and authoritarian manner.
Telangana’s Deputy Chief Minister and the concerned minister, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, claimed that he had nothing to do with the tender process or the tender conditions, and instructed Singareni to cancel the Naini block tenders altogether.
From another direction, the Union Ministry of Coal sent a two-member technical committee to examine the matter. Within a day or two, Union Minister of State for Mines G. Kishan Reddy visited Kothagudem and held a meeting with the Singareni management. BJP leaders alleged that the Congress government was a “commissions government” and that irregularities were committed in the Naini block tender process solely to collect commissions.
Overall, in this entire episode, the names of contractors such as Shodha Constructions, Srujan Reddy, National Construction Company, GRN & Mahalaxmi, Varahi–GKR Joint Venture, Megha Engineering, and Sushee Hi-Tech have surfaced, along with at least half a dozen more contractors whose names have not yet come out. It appears that all of them are followers, close associates, beneficiaries of political patronage, or benamis of political leaders belonging to one political party or another.
What is becoming clear to the public—and what the public needs to understand—is that in the minerals sector, especially in the coal sector, everyone is a thief. There is no one who has not looted coal, and no one who has not flung that coal at others.
At this point, it is necessary to talk about coal itself—the very subject at the centre of today’s controversy. During the colonial period, a Geological Survey of India surveyor named William King discovered coal deposits near the village of Singareni, close to Yellandu in the then Warangal district.
A British company called The Hyderabad (Deccan) Company Limited obtained permission in 1886 to mine coal here. In 1920, this company became Singareni Collieries Company Limited. In 1945, the Hyderabad government bought all the shares of this company. Subsequently, it became a company owned by the erstwhile undivided Andhra Pradesh state government.
At present, the Telangana state government holds a 51 percent stake in this institution, while the central government holds 49 percent. For some time now, the central government has been trying to take over this coal mining company, and Telangana’s representatives on the board of directors have been blocking these attempts.
To supply coal required for two 600-megawatt power plants proposed to be built near Pegadapalli by Singareni Collieries, the central government allotted the Naini coal mine, located in the Talcher coalfields of Angul district in Odisha, to Singareni in 2015. This is the first mine allotted to Singareni outside the state.
The mine spreads over a total area of 913 hectares (2,300 acres). Of this, 783 hectares (1,950 acres) is forest land, including 643 hectares (1,600 acres) of reserve forest. Studies indicate that this mine contains about 450 million tonnes of coal, of which at least 340 million tonnes can be extracted.
Singareni has secured the opportunity to extract 10 million tonnes of coal annually from this mine. This means that, at the very least, the mine will have a lifespan of thirty-five years. This region—the Angul–Dhenkanal forest belt—was once known as an elephant paradise.
Environmental scientists have warned that coal mining here has already reduced the elephant population, that if mining continues in the same manner the remaining elephants too will vanish, and that severe environmental damage will occur. Both the Odisha government and the central government have turned a deaf ear to these warnings.
Although this coal block was allotted to Singareni on 13 August 2015, first-stage environmental clearances were granted only in 2021, and second-stage clearances only in March 2023. In July 2024, the Odisha state government approved the transfer of 643 hectares of forest land.
From the very day this block came into its possession, the Singareni management—essentially the state government—began claiming that operating this new coal mine was beyond its capacity, and that outsourcing the work, that is, handing it over to another entity, most probably private, was inevitable.
A company with a hundred years of experience in mining dozens of underground and opencast mines across five districts claiming that it lacks the capacity to mine a single coal block and extract coal makes one understand the role of corruption in this affair. In January 2016 itself, Singareni invited expressions of interest from companies willing to undertake this work. Since all this happened during the tenure of Telangana’s first government, it must be understood that the seeds of the coal scam were sown even then.
Continuing along the same path, after the Congress government came to power, tenders were invited in November 2025 to develop and operate (Mine Developer and Operator) the Naini coal mine. This tender process was supposed to be completed by the end of January 2026, with the successful bidder commencing mining operations thereafter.
However, Singareni’s management inserted a knot into this tender process. Companies wishing to participate in the tender were required to undertake a site visit of the mine area and attach a site-visit certificate issued by the local General Manager to the tender form.
Here, even if a company completed the site visit, issuing or withholding the certificate depended entirely on the discretion of that General Manager. He could issue it to those he favoured and deny it to others. Because they did not receive this certificate, some companies lost their eligibility to participate in the tender process. Allegations are now being made that this disqualification of certain companies was done deliberately.
In fact, even before this MDO tender process, from 2016 onwards, contracts were being awarded continuously for opencast mining, removal and dumping of overburden, diesel supply, other machinery support, maintenance support, civil works, roads and building construction, and labour supply.
Harish Rao stated that during the BRS regime these contracts were awarded at negative tender rates (that is, at prices lower than the government’s estimated cost—almost 7 to 20 percent lower), but after the Congress came to power, these were cancelled and re-awarded at rates 7 to 10 percent higher.
However, anyone familiar with government tender processes knows that the government deliberately inflates cost estimates in the first place and then awards contracts to the lowest bidder based on that benchmark. When the very tender process itself is structured as a deception, the talk of lower or higher rates serves only as a rhetorical accusation.
He alleged that a company called Shodha Constructions benefited under this new system. While the opposition alleged that the site-visit certificate condition was imposed only in 2024 after the Congress came to power, the ruling party countered that this condition had existed since 2018.
If coal alone is causing so much controversy, one can only imagine what golden geese mineral resources like sand and granite, forest resources like timber, land, and the extremely valuable metals and minerals buried beneath the land must be for our rulers!
How many hundreds of thousands of crores in kickbacks must they be accumulating! The wealth of the people of this country—their inherited wealth, the wealth that ought to belong to all— is being consumed by those who come to power for five years. It is being destroyed. It is being denied to future generations!
(Views expressed here are personal, edited by Sumavarsha)
