StatesTelangana
Bhatti Vikramarka promises house plots, jobs and better hospitals for Singareni workers
Telangana's Deputy Chief Minister set a 15-day deadline for compassionate appointments and offered a way back for workers dismissed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Key points
- Compassionate appointments at Singareni are to be cleared within 15 days.
- Eligible workers on company land will get title deeds on 1,250 acres for house plots.
- Workers dismissed for not reporting during Covid-19 get a one-time chance to return.
Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka on Tuesday announced a set of measures for workers at Singareni Collieries, from house-plot title deeds to a fresh chance for those who lost their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking to reporters, Vikramarka said pending compassionate appointments would be cleared within 15 days. Cases held up by mismatches in workers’ recorded names, referred to as “alias names”, are to be settled in the same period.
Medical invalidation assessments, which decide whether a worker is fit to continue, will now be done at Singareni’s area hospitals. Workers will no longer have to make the trip to Kothagudem for them.
Those dismissed for failing to report for duty during the pandemic will get a one-time opportunity to return to work, he said.
On housing, eligible workers living on Singareni land will receive title deeds for house plots under GO 76, covering 1,250 acres. The company will also build housing colonies for workers, to be called Nehru Housing Colony.
Vikramarka said the area hospitals would be upgraded to the standard of corporate hospitals, with specialist doctors brought in, and that free cancer screening would be offered across the Singareni region.
Singareni has 38,738 permanent workers and 29,715 contract workers on its rolls, according to figures given with the announcement. The Deputy Chief Minister did not give a timeline for the housing colonies or the hospital upgrades, or say what they would cost.