Top coal miner seeks more vaccines to stem virus deaths

Coal India writes to government after Covid kills 400 staff

Coal India Ltd., one of the nation’s biggest employers, has asked the federal government to help accelerate the vaccination of its work force after the deaths of almost 400 staff from Covid-19.

The world’s top coal miner, which employs about 259,000 people, said it has written to government officials requesting about one million doses be made available for staff and their family members. So far, some 64,000 employees — about a quarter of the work force — have been vaccinated, and the company is seeking to speed up the inoculation drive after unions pressed the case.

“The company should be looking at mass vaccination programmes that cover all employees and their family members so that the damage can be arrested,” said Sudhir Ghurde, general secretary at Akhil Bharatiya Khadan Mazdoor Sangh, one of the leading unions. The plea for more shots comes as prime minister Narendra Modi’s administration has come under intense criticism for the handling of the second virus wave. India has suffered from a critical shortage of inoculations, leading some centres to close down.

On the front lines

Coal mine employees have been on the front lines of the pandemic, working their shifts during lockdowns to make sure power plants don’t run out of fuel that produces nearly 70 per cent of India’s electricity. Work at mines continued even as deaths accelerated in the second wave that began around mid-February.

Coal India said most of the casualties have occurred during the second wave. Although the situation has started to ease, the company is recruiting more medical staff on a temporary basis and investing in oxygen facilities to prepare for a possible resurgence of the disease. A total of nearly 6,000 workers have been infected, with more than 1,000 continuing to receive treatment, the company said.