Hyderabad, Sep 22 : The Telangana government on Monday announced that the employees of state-owned Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) will be paid Rs 819 crore as a bonus for Dussehra.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, along with Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, announced the bonus as a 'Dussehra' gift for the 71,000 employees.

The company will pay 34 per cent of its profit, which works out to Rs 819 crore, as the bonus. This is Rs 23 crore more than the bonus given last year.

This year, each of the 41,000 regular employees will get Rs 1,95,610 as a bonus, while Rs 5,500 each will be paid to 30,000 contract workers.

Last year, the government had announced Rs 1.90 lakh each for the regular employees and Rs 5,000 each for contract employees.

Deputy Chief Minister Vikramarka said that the company earned a profit of Rs 6,394 crore in 2024-25. After the allocation of Rs 4,034 crore for the company's future expansion and other investments, the net profit was Rs 2,360 crore. Out of this, 34 per cent has been earmarked for a bonus to the employees.

For the second consecutive year, the state government announced a bonus for the contract workers. The Chief Minister claimed that for the first time, contract workers were paid a bonus.

He gave the assurance to workers that they will also get a bonus for Deepawali.

The Chief Minister said that history can never forget the key role played by Singareni workers in achieving the Telangana state. He assured the employees that the government and the party would continue to recognise their role in the Telangana movement.

He was all praise for the employees for their efforts to make the company profitable. He said in recognition of the efforts of employees, the government decided to increase their share in profits.

The Chief Minister assured employees that the government would strengthen Singareni to enable it to compete with corporate companies.

He urged the workers to make sure that mines leased to private parties are also allotted to Singareni.

He cautioned that if the private participation continues to increase, there will be a question mark on the very existence of Singareni in future.

CM Revanth Reddy said the state government will talk to the Centre in this regard to resolve the issue.

/IANS