The Singareni Coal Mines Karmika Sangh affiliated to the BMS has urged Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to instruct the State government to take measures to fulfil the promises made by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to the coal miners of Singareni Collieries Company limited.
In a memorandum submitted to the Governor and a copy of which was released to media here on Friday, Singareni Coal Miners Karmika Sangh president Kengerla Mallaiah and general secretary P. Madhava Nayak urged the government to fulfil the promise of regularisation of the proxy coal miners and medical invalidation for the lung, heart, kidney, ortho, diabetes and hypertension diseases also and help the wards of miners secure employment in Singareni.
They also urged the government to exempt the coal miners from the payment of Income Tax as they were working under difficult conditions by risking their lives.
Heavily taxed
Out of the 12 months salary, the coal miners were forced to forgo three months salary as IT, they said and urged the State government to at least reimburse the amount which amounts to only ₹ 250 crore per annum and the Singareni was paying ₹ 3,800 crore as various taxes to State government.
The union leaders also urged the government to construct super speciality hospitals in both Godavarikhani and Kothagudem areas for the benefit of coal miners and their family members and save at least ₹ 60 crore per annum in the name of medical bills for corporate referral hospitals. They also demanded the government to provide medical facilities to the employees who took voluntary retirement.
Demanding abolition of outsourcing in underground and open cast projects, they sought more employment to the locals by opening more mines. They also demanded the government to fulfil the promise of providing 250 yards land to each coal miner.
