Talks fail, Coal India officers to go on 3-day strike

The three-day proposed strike by Coal India Ltd (CIL) executives from March 13 seems imminent as negotiations with the management failed today.

"There is no concrete plan to pay our dues by the management. We will go on with the strike," Coal Mines Officers' Association of India president V P Singh said after meeting the CIL management.

There had been a meeting with the deputy labour commissioner yesterday, the association said.

Only the government can prevent the strike by issuing permission for the pending benefits for officers, it said.

The strike will have an estimated impact in production and dispatches by 4 million tonne of coal at a time when the miner is facing a shortfall in excess of 17 million tonnes from its target for 2013-14.

"The production is peak in March. Each day, the production is 1.2 to 1.3 million tonnes and with the strike, it is likely to get badly affected," Singh said.

The strike has been called to press for performance-linked pay and new pension scheme implementation, which requires the Coal Ministry's approval, Singh said.

The average annual impact on Coal India is around Rs 200 crore for not implementing the wage pact of 2007 in totality, he said, adding the total impact on Coal India would be to the tune of Rs 800 crore annually.

The CIL chairman had said a few days ago that there might be production and dispatch shortfall of 10 million tonnes from the miner's annual targets of 482 million and 492 million tonnes, respectively set for the current financial year.

The strike may also affect the proposed board meeting on March 13 here, which is expected to clear the policy of PPP model for coal mining.

Meanwhile speaking on the effect of the strike on power supply, an NTPC official said: "The power stations like Badarpur (New Delhi), Unchahar (Uttar Pradesh), Simhadri (Andhra Pradesh), etc, which are "critically placed" as far as coal is concerned may have face problems though we have stock piles to last a few days.