The Singareni Day will be celebrated in all the 11 areas of the SCCL on December 23. A grand carnival being organised by the company will symbolise the beginning of the mining activity at Singareni Village, some 35 km from Kothagudem, in 1889 under the Hyderabad Deccan Coal Company owned by a group of private investors, who renamed it as the Singareni Collieries Company Limited in 1920 and listed it on the London Stock Exchange.
“This time, it is going to be more a celebration of the dramatic turnaround from gloom to glory achieved by the company during the last 10 years,” said the company officials.
Jointly owned by the State Government and the Central Government with equity of 51:49, the financial performance of the company hit the rock bottom with accumulated losses over Rs. 1,200 crores in 1996. It was the time when the company production was badly hit with over 100 confrontational trade unions giving one strike call a day.
Factors such as mining of low quality coal, lack of focus, old and obsolete technology pushed the company to the brink of sickness and uncertainty. But by 2002-2003, the company wiped out all its losses. It could net profit in 2003-2004 – a year that turned out to be a glorious phase in the company’s history.
The company owed its success to its new work culture. Coal production, which crossed the 44 million tonnes mark last year, was projected to be over 50.50 million tonnes in 2009-2010.
The company is setting up a merchant power plant costing Rs. 2,500 crores at Srirampur in Adilabad, besides investing Rs. 2,000 crores on four long-wall projects for adding another 2 million tonnes to its annual production.
The company management planned to involve its entire work force of 69,000 coal workers, employees and executives in the celebrations. Best coal worker from each area would be honoured as the best Singarenian of the year at the main function to be organised at Bhupalapalli in Warangal district on December 23.
Company Chairman S. Narsinga Rao and all directors would take part in the main function. The company organised different events, including singing competitions, “dipalankarana” and tug-of-war besides some cultural events in the coal mine areas. At Yellandu, area DGM Sivaram Reddy, who released the Singareni Day celebrations poster, appealed to company employees and workers to ensure their active participation. The company allocated a budget of Rs. 15 lakhs for organising the fete.
