No major impact of coal strike on Singareni

The five-day nation-wide coal industry strike called by trade unions had only partial impact on Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) in Telangana as the company achieved near normal production Tuesday.

A spokesman of SCCL told IANS that the strike call had no major impact on coal production as the major recognized trade union, the Telangana Boggu Ghani Karmika Sangham (BGKS), was not participating in the strike.

SCCL general manager S. Chandrasekhar told IANS that "all mines are working. The attendance is partial in underground mines but normal in open cast mines".

He said the coal production in the first shift (7 a.m. to 3 p.m.) was 50,240 tonnes while the dispatch was 46,000 tonnes.

He said 18,000 out of 34,000 employees in the first shift attended their duties. About 10,000 employees participated in the strike but this did not have major impact on production as the company used the entire available workforce for production work.

"We expect normal production of 1.5 lakh tonnes," the official said.

SSCL's produces 1.5 lakh to 1.6 lakh tonnes of coal in three shifts every day.

Jointly owned by the Telangana and the central governments, SSCL currently operates 15 opencast and 34 underground mines in four districts of Telangana. It has around 59,000 employees.

Though Hind Mazdoor Sangh (HMS) is one of the five trade unions called the national strike, the SCCL employees owing allegiance to it attended their duties. Only a section of employees supporting Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) are participating in the strike.

Chandrasekhar expects the attendance to further improve Wednesday. "They may stay away from work for a day or two but are not likely to protest for five days," he said.

The trade unions have called the strike to protest against "disinvestment and restructuring of state-run Coal India" and to press for their other demands including the roll-back of what they call as "process of denationalising of coal sector".

The strike is likely to hit power, steel, cement and other sectors in different parts of the country. However, Telangana State General Corporation (TSGENCO) officials said they have sufficient coal stocks for the next 20 days. The strike is not likely to hit four thermal power stations run by TSGENCO.