Representatives of the Telangana Boggu Ghani Karimka Sangham (TBGKS), the elected union of coal workers affiliated to the TRS, on Friday donated Rs 9 crore, on behalf of all employees of the Singareni Colleries to the victims of flood-hit Kerala.
The representatives met Nizamabad MP K Kavitha, who is the Honorary President of the TBGKS and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and handed over a cheque with the amount, to be handed over to the Kerala Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF).
TRS MP Balka Suman and other leaders were also present.
As many as 417 people have lost their lives in rains and floods that devastated the state last week. Even as hundreds began returning home from relief camps, it is estimated 8.69 lakh people are still living in 2,787 shelters across the state.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Friday that the deaths began since the monsoon rains started on May 29, but 265 of the casualties were reported from August 8 when torrential downpour triggered the worst flooding in the state in nearly a century.
This comes days after the Telangana government announced a 27% share in the profit of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) to the company’s employees for the financial year 2017-18. This is a hike of 2% from the previous year’s profit shared with the employees.
The SCCL is a government-owned coal mining company, which is jointly owned by the Telangana government and the Centre on a 51:49 equity basis.
The mines spread over several districts, employ thousands of local residents. In October last year, after days of campaigning, the TBGKS retained its hold in the largest public sector company in the state, winning nine out of 11 divisions in the elections.
TBGKS polled 23,800 votes while All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) of Communist Party of India (CPI), which was backed by the Congress party and Telugu Desam Party (TDP), polled 19,300 votes. AITUC won two divisions.
About 95% of total 52,534 coal workers cast their votes to elect the recognised union.