Singareni Collieries Company

History

In the year 1871, Dr. King of the Geological Survey of India discovered coal near the village of Yellandu in Khammam district and one of the important coal seams bore his name. He named upper seam of the coal as Queen seam and the lower lower as King seam. The Hyderabad (Deccan) Company Limited incorporated in England acquired mining rights in 1886 to exploit coal found in Yellandu area. The present Company was incorporated on 23rd December 1920 under the Hyderabad Companies Act as a public limited company with the name 'The Singareni Collieries Company Limited' (SCCL). It acquired all the assets and liabilities of the Hyderabad (Deccan) Co. Ltd. Best & Co., acted as Secretaries and Selling Agents. The State of Hyderabad purchased majority shares of the Company in 1945. From 1945 to 1949, the Hyderabad Construction Co., Ltd., was acting as Managing Agent. In 1949 this function was entrusted to Industrial Trust Fund by the then Government of Hyderabad. The controlling interest of the Company devolved on the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 1956 pursuant to the reorganization of States. Thus, the SCCL became a Government Company under the Companies Act in 1956.

It is named after the village Singareni in khammam district, Telangana where the coal mines are first noticed . The manner of extending financial assistance for expansion of SCCL by the Govt. of A.P., and the Govt. of India during V plan period was agreed upon in the Four party Agreement executed on 10 June 1974. Subsequently, the Govt. of India decided to control its equity directly in SCCL. Accordingly, agreement was concluded on 13 December 1977. The SCCL, the Government of A.P., the Government of India and Coal India Limited were parties to the agreement. These two agreements are popularly called quadripartite agreements.

For financial and other assistance during VI, VII, VIII, IX & X Plan periods, separate agreements were executed on 31 March 1985, 10 February 1989, 24 September 1994, 11 January 2002, 19 October 2004 and 11 June 2010 between the Government of India, the Government of Andhra Pradesh and SCCL. These agreements are called tripartite agreements.

The Company's accredited function is to explore and exploit the coal deposits in the Godavari valley coalfield, which is the only repository of coal in South India. Mining activities of SCCL are presently spread over four districts of Telangana Viz.,"Komaram Bheem Asifabad district", Peddapalli district-Ramagundam, Khammam district and Jayashankar district.

The studies of Geological Survey of India attribute as much as 22,016 million tonnes of coal reserves in the Godavari valley coalfield. The inventory covers up to a depth of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) and it includes reserves proved, indicated as well as inferred.

The coal extracted by SCCL in the Godavari valley coalfield up to the year 2009-10 was about 929.11 million tonnes.

Awards and Recognition

Operations

The company is involved in coal extraction in Telangana, in the Pranahita-Godavari Valley region, which has significant coal reserves, with proven geological reserves estimated at 8,791 million tonnes. Ramagundam is one of most important division of singareni collieries company. There are three divisions ( RG-1, RG-2, RG-3) and Adriyala project area in Ramagundam region. Each division is headed by a General Manager.

Singareni collieries has established a thermal power plant of 1,200 MW (2 X 600 MW)in the town Jaipur of Bellampalli region in Mancherial district. There is a proposal to establish one more 600 MW unit at Jaipur power plant. COAL MINES PROVIDENT FUND regional office is located at Godavarikhani serving needs to 4 regions of Singareni colleries.