Production, supply from Talcher Coalfields hit for 12th day

Production and supply from Talcher Coalfields of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) was hit for the 12th day on Sunday due to agitation by locals backed by political parties after four workers died in a mishap at a mine last week.

Four workers were killed and nine others injured in the mishap at Bharatpur mine on July 23, triggering protests by political parties and locals.

Due to the shutdown since July 24, the MCL has incurred cumulative operational losses up to 21.04 lakh tonne of coal, 24.20 lakh tonne of despatch and 20.54 lakh cubic metre of over burden removal while its coal value loss stands at Rs 213.60 crore, an MCL Spokesperson said.

The stoppage of Talcher mines by villagers has indirectly affected power generation loss to the tune of 3,339.04 million units, as power producers are facing shortage of coal, he claimed.

Due to continuing loss to the coal production and despatch, Talcher has lost Rs 1,045 lakh contribution under District Mineral Fund (DMF) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the spokesperson said.

The peripheral villages of MCL are entitled to the benefits from the DMF, for which company contributes Rs 42.63 per tonne. However, with no coal production all these days, peripheral villages of Talcher coalfields have lost Rs 895 lakh for DMF, he said.

While the Central and the State exchequers continue to bear the major loss of Rs 138.26 crore, the closure has severely affected at least 40,000 families who directly or indirectly are depended on MCL and coal mining operations, he claimed.

The Talcher Truck Owners' Association had called on the District Collector of Angul on Saturday and submitted a memorandum seeking his intervention for restoring of normalcy in Talcher coalfields.

About 5,000 trucks, mainly engaged in transportation of coal, are stranded in Talcher due to ongoing stoppage by some of the villagers.

The company, with 144 million tonne coal production during 2018-19, is the second largest coal producing subsidiary of Coal India Limited, contributing 20 per cent to the total dry fuel produced in the country.