Union Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy on Monday, July 13, 2026, accused the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government and the current Congress administration in Telangana of pushing Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) into a financial crisis by withholding dues, while crediting the Modi government with reviving the state-run coal miner's fortunes through new block allocations in Telangana and Odisha.

Context

Replying to a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Reddy wrote in Telugu that 'gata BRS prabhutvam nirlakshyam, tappudu vidhanala valle' (due to the neglect and wrong policies of the previous BRS government), Singareni's workforce had fallen and its revenues had deteriorated sharply. He stated that the company's employee count had dropped from 70,000 to 40,000 under the previous dispensation — a figure the research background flags as unverified in established public record. Reddy also alleged that both the BRS and Congress governments had used Singareni 'like an ATM', accumulating dues of nearly Rs 50,000 crore owed to the company by state power utilities — a figure similarly unverified in public record.

The minister is the BJP Telangana state president, and his remarks come in the context of ongoing political competition between the BJP, the Congress-led state government, and the BRS opposition in Telangana.

Policy Backdrop

Singareni Collieries is a joint-sector public undertaking co-owned by the Government of Telangana and the Government of India, and is one of the largest employers in the state's mining belt. The company supplies coal primarily to Telangana's state-run power generation utilities, making timely payment of dues by those utilities critical to SCCL's financial health.

Reddy highlighted that the Modi government had taken the initiative to commence coal production at 'Tadicherla-II', a block in Telangana, and at 'Naini Coal Block' in Odisha, which he said would secure the company's future and provide employment assurance to thousands of workers. The central government has, since 2015, pursued an auction-based coal block allocation regime aimed at expanding production and improving transparency following a 2014 Supreme Court order that cancelled earlier allocations.

Stakeholders and Impact

The most directly affected stakeholders are Singareni's workforce — estimated in the minister's post to have shrunk to around 40,000 employees — and the communities in Telangana's coal belt that depend on the company for livelihoods. The activation of Tadicherla-II and Naini Coal Block is presented by Reddy as a lifeline for these workers, potentially reversing the employment decline he attributes to state-level mismanagement.

Telangana's state power utilities are also central to this dispute: they are the primary buyers of Singareni coal, and Reddy's allegation is that successive state governments allowed dues to accumulate without settlement, starving the PSU of operating revenue. The Congress state government and BRS have not responded publicly to these specific allegations as of this report.

What's Next

Reddy called on the Congress and BRS parties to set aside what he termed 'cheap politics' and honestly acknowledge the 'historic support' extended by the Modi government to Singareni and its workers. The key variables to watch are the pace of production ramp-up at Tadicherla-II and Naini, and whether centre-state negotiations result in a concrete timeline for clearing the outstanding dues owed to SCCL by Telangana's power sector. A resolution of the dues question would be the most direct test of whether the political rhetoric translates into financial relief for the company.