CIL chairman Narsing Rao may quit, become KCR's principal secy

S Narsing Rao, 56, the current chairman of Coal India, the largest coal producing company in the world, is joining as the principal secretary to K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the chief minister of Telangana, the 29th state, which will come into existence on June 2.

Chandrasekhar Rao, the supremo of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), has been for the past few years spearheading the demand for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to create a separate Telangana. Narsing Rao, an IAS officer of the 1986 batch of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, had quit the service to join Coal India in April 2012. His is thus a political appointment. He still has three more years to go at Coal India considering that he joined with a five year tenure.

Those who know Narsing Rao, who hails from Medak district of Telangana, say, he has since his student days been a sympathiser of the cause for Telangana. It is not without reason that  K.T. Rama Rao, son of Chandrasekhara Rao and a senior TRS leader, confirming the news of Narsing Rao joining as "principal secretary to the chief minister" told Business Today: "He is doing this not just because he knows the region but also because of his love for the region."

Narsing Rao, has not just been at the helm at Coal India but was earlier the chairman of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), the AP based coal mining company. "Narsing Rao is a post-graduate in chemistry and economics. He also holds a post-graduate higher diploma in forestry. Before joining the IAS, he had undergone training in forestry and rural development sectors.

The big question now is what happens at Coal India? For the process of getting a successor is not going to be easy and could be time consuming. Consider the broad steps involved: the public enterprises selection board will first have to notify and call for candidates, they need to be shortlisted and interviewed and the coal ministry will eventually need to take orders on this from the appointments committee of the cabinet. All of this could take three to six months.

But can the chairman of a behemoth like Coal India be relieved on a short notice. That is now clear though officials at Coal India feel perhaps there could be provisions relating to request from a new state which may make this possible. But then, Coal India, at this juncture, when many projects will be needing coal linkages in the country and the coal output needs to be stepped up, cannot afford to stay long without a leader.

Narsing Rao could not be reached for this story and phone calls and text messages to him remained unanswered.