MCL pegs loss at Rs 261 cr due to Talcher violence

Resumes operations at eight mines after lifting of prohibitory order

Coal India subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) has estimated the losses, incurred due to stop of work following Friday’s violence at its Talcher coalfields and subsequent imposition of prohibitory orders in the area, at Rs 261 crore.

“MCL lost about one million tonne coal production during the violence and enforcement of Section 144 in the coalmine area. Its value is estimated at Rs 261 crore,” said A K Tiwari, director (technical) with the coal miner.

The validity of prohibitory order ended at 6 am today after 48 hour deadline. MCL said, all the workers reported for duty today and mining activities in eight mines, which was halted during and after the violence, have restarted.

“All eight mines have started working and all railway sidings are open to despatch now except for 2 sidings. The supplies will resume soon,” said Tiwari.

Coal supplies remained suspended from eight of the 10 mines run by MCL since November 29, as angry villagers ransacked the general manager’s office at Jagannath colliery and torched 40 vehicles, in retaliation against the attack on them by some henchmen of the contracting agency engaged for coal transportation, while they were sitting in a protest strike.

Following the incident, the Talcer police had imposed prohibitory orders for two days to avoid escalation of violence and arrested the local MLA, who was leading the agitating villagers.

MCL had to stop operation at its eight mines and seven railway sidings for four days. The company despatches nearly 200,000 tonne coal a day to different power plants in the country.

Talcher Coalfields is the key coal producing region of the state and is home to the biggest coalfield of India, with nearly 35 billion tonne deposits. Spread over 500 square Km, the region supplies coal to Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and other parts of India including state-based thermal power plants.

The largest power plant of NTPC in the state, Talcher Super Thermal Power Station (TSTPS) at Kaniha reported generation loss of 1,800 Mw due to limited coal supply from the miner. MCL, however denied the allegations.

“Kaniha plant has been supplied its daily needs all through the shutdown period except for one day when the supply was 23,000 tonne, against its requirement of 55,000 tonne. It was rather Nalco (National Aluminium Company) and TTPS (Talcher Thermal Power Station), which did not receive coal during the period,” said Tiwari, who oversees coal production and supplies in the company.

For 2013-14, MCL has set a target to produce 124 million tonne (mt) coal, up from 108 mt last year. The miner earlier reported production curb due to summer duty hour restrictions and an accident in one of its mine in the current fiscal.