Protests may derail MCL's production target for FY19

Coal India Ltd subsidiary -- Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd -- is likely to miss its production target for the 2018-19 fiscal, as ongoing protests at some of its key mines continue to hamper output, company sources have said.

Protests by villagers seeking employment, among other demands, have led to loss of production hours in the current fiscal, mainly impacting the Kaniha mine in Talcher coalfields and Hingula open cast mine, the sources said.

MCL has already revised its aspirational targets to 162.50 million tonne of coal production and 169 million tonne of offtake for the fiscal ending March 31.

"Till February 19 in the current fiscal, a total of 6,051 hours of production has been lost due to the protests. And with the elections nearing, such politically motivated disruptions are expected to rise," an MCL source told PTI.

Even last fiscal's production of 143 million tonne might not be equalled, the sources said.

During the April-January period, production declined 2.8 per cent on-year to 111.61 million tonne, they said, adding, about 4.87 million tonne of output has so far been lost in 2018-19, due to disruptions in mining operations in the first three quarters.

The 10-million tonne capacity Kaniha mine remained the worst affected with stoppage in operations for around seven weeks during April-December, leading to a loss of over 1.3 million tonne production.

The Kaniha and Hingula open cast mines recorded production loss of 1,300 hours and 1,143 hours, respectively, till February, the sources added.