Coal mining, transportation hit on first day of strike in Jharkhand
DHANBAD: Mining and dispatch of coal from mines of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) and Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), the subsidiaries of Coal India Limited (CIL), remained affected on the first day of the three-day nationwide strike of coal industry in Dhanbad on Thursday to oppose the Centre’s policy of commercial mining.
The appeal by coal minister Prahlad Joshi to workers to desist from the strike and the threat by CIL chairman Pramod Agarwal of ‘wage cut’ had no impact as hundreds of workers associated with the five central trade unions joined the strike.
Attendance was nil at several mines during the first shift duty, while at some locations, workers marked attendance but did not report for work, the trade union leaders claimed.
DD Ramanandan, general secretary, All India Coal Workers’
Federation, said there was complete shut-down of operations at CIL and its subsidiaries during the first shift.
‘It will be too early to assess the product and dispatch losses but we are sure that miners have come out in large numbers to oppose the proposal of commercial mining. All subsidiaries of CIL have suffered huge production losses during the first shift on day one of the strike,” said Ramanandan.
INTUC leader AK Jha said BCCL suffered production loss running in lakhs of tonnes on the very first day of the strike. “Dispatches too were affected, both from rail and road”, said Jha based on a report reaching the Union headquarters from different areas.
Jha termed the Centre’s attempt to commercialise mining as a move to privatise the coal industry.
Talking to media persons,
BCCL chairman - cum- managing director (CMD) PM Prasad, while admitting that departmental coal miners didn’t report for work during the first day of the strike, said that contract workers reported on duty at some locations but did not work to their full potential.
The CMD appealed to all workers to join duty from the second shift in the larger interest of BCCL. “The company is making assessment of actual losses in both production and dispatches,” he said.
Meanwhile, reports suggested that mining and transportation of coal at select locations that were outsourced by BCCL were operating in eastern Jharia area of the BCCL.
Operations at Kabribad coal mines located in Giridih district also remained affected since morning.
Leaders from different central trade unions were seen motivating miners to join the second day of strike on Friday morning at different locations.