Strike hits NMDC; iron ore production down 75,000 tonnes

4,200 staff join strike; mgt says no impact on overall target; RINL, Singareni Collieries see 80% staff joining protest

The day-long nationwide strike called by 10 central trade unions today crippled iron ore production of state-owned NMDC by nearly 75,000 tonnes across all its mines, a senior official of the PSU said.

"As many as 4,200 employees participated in the strike affecting the production by nearly 75,000 tonnes in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka," the official told PTI.

However, he said the strike will not impact the overall production target.

Nearly 80 per cent of the 12,000 workforce of Visakhapatnam-based Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) participated in the strike, an official spokesperson of the steel-maker said.

He said all the 6,000 officials belonging to executive cadre were present on duty today.

The PSU has three blast furnaces and currently it is operating only two as one of them is under revamp.

"On an average we produce 12,000 tonnes of hard metal. In view of today's strike, we will reschedule the target," the official said.

The strike was near total in Telangana-based Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) with about 80 per cent of its 58,000 employees participating in the protest.

"In the first shift the attendance was only 15 to 20 per cent. Out of 35,000 employees we see only 5,000 working in the shift. The daily coal production of 1.5 lakh tonnes may come down to one lakh tonnes today. Underground mines in most of the areas did not operate today," an SCCL official said.