Coal despatch hit by stir

The agitation by villagers of Kalamchuin, a peripheral village, in Talcher coalfields paralyzing two coal mines under the command area of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), has not only hit coal supply to the power plants in the country but also impacted small consumers in the state.

This is for the first time in the history of MCL that two mega coal mines have remained closed for 14 days.

As a result, the daily coal output has shrunk by 45,000-50,000 tonnes following which coal despatch to the linked consumers has been hit hard, said an MCL official.

“We are getting calls from the authorities of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Company, Raichur power plant, Simadri power plant, NTPC-Kaniha and others for supply coal to save their plants from being shutdown but we could not meet their need at the peak load time”, adds the official.

“As against the normal supply of 31 rakes of coal from Talcher, we are now sending 27-28 rakes per day due to shortfall in coal production triggered by the agitation of the villagers.

Even the stockpile of coal lying at these mines cannot be utilized due to the stir”, he added.

The strike has also impacted local coal sale that is supplied to small consumers engaged in manufacture of bricks. The stoppage of local sale from these two mines for 14 days has put tremendous pressure on other coal mines where the coal is sold at very high rate due to demand-supply mismatch.

Meanwhile, the deadlock over the agitation that began on March 4 by the villagers still continues. A meeting was called by Angul collector to solve the problem but that ended in smoke as both the villagers and MCL stuck to their respective stands.

MCL has maintained that it would not fulfill the demand for 630 jobs unless the people first demolish their homes and vacate the village. The villagers, on the other hand, have refused to vacate unless they are properly rehabilitated. They charged MCL of discrimination, alleging that it has allowed oustees in other villages to occupy their homes for years even before they got jobs.

The villagers have resolved to continue their agitation indefinitely till their demand for jobs is met. They have not only paralyzed the collieries but also closed all the colliery offices in the area including the office of the general manager of Hingula Area.