Telangana: BRS disputes Congress govt's claim over Singareni bonus

Hyderabad, Sep (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President K. T. Rama Rao on Sunday accused the Congress government in Telangana of betraying the employees of state-owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited over bonus.

He told media persons that what the Congress government has announced for Singareni employees is not bonus but 'bogus'.

Disputing the claim of the state government that it is paying 33 per cent bonus to Singareni workers, Rama Rao claimed that the government will be paying them only 16. 9 per cent bonus.

Referring to the government's announcement that each employee will be paid Rs 1.9 lakh as bonus, the BRS leader said that this is just 16.9 per cent of the profit and not 33 per cent as claimed.

He added that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka should clarify because 33 per cent bonus works out to Rs 3.7 lakh per employee.

"If the government is serious on the issue of welfare of Singareni employees, it should pay what it is promising. It should pay Rs 3.7 lakh for every employee and not Rs 1.9 lakh," he said and alleged that every employee is suffering a loss of Rs 1.8 lakh.

KTR, as the BRS leader is popularly known, said that 33 per cent of the total profit of Rs 4,701 crore during 2023-24 works out to Rs 1,551 crore but the Congress government is disbursing only Rs 796 crore as bonus.

He claimed that the BRS government acted with sincerity over the issue of bonus to Singareni employees during the last 10 years.

He said despite Covid-19, the BRS government delivered Rs 2,780 crore of profit share to the workers of Singareni while during the earlier 10 years of Congress rule the employees received Rs 365 crore as bonus.

He asked the government to stop spreading lies that it is paying 33 per cent of profit as bonus.

He said that in united Andhra Pradesh, Singareni workers did not get more than 10-15 per cent share in profit as bonus.

He claimed that Singareni achieved tremendous progress during the 10 years of BRS rule.

The company's performance was improved and this resulted in a huge jump in profits.

During the BRS rule Singareni workers were paid 32 per cent profit as bonus.

KTR said when BRS came to power, each worker was getting only Rs 17,000 as bonus but in the last year of its government, it paid Rs 1.7 lakh as bonus to every employee.

He sarcastically asked if this was the gift from the Congress for Singareni employees for electing all its party candidates in the Singareni mines area during Assembly elections last year and Congress affiliated union in the trade union elections.

KTR said that the BRS had cautioned Singareni workers and alleged that the Congress government had undermined all their rights.

He added that the BRS had also warned Singareni employees that Congress and BJP together would privatise Singareni and claimed that the two parties together conducted the auction of Singareni mines.

KTR said BJP's Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka were seen smiling while participating in the auction.