Zero output at MCL's Balram mine for 9th day

Talcher coalfields in Angul district of Odisha continues to incur losses as the authorities could not resolve the problem of people of two villages who have been disrupting work in the mines for the ninth day on Friday.

The villagers of Danara and Soloda are at loggerheads over loading of trucks and due to this clash of interests, sources in the coalfields said.

They stopped overburden removal at Mahalakshmi patch on October 10 and coal production from the mine was stopped from the second shift on October 12, an MCL spokesperson said.

Coal despatch at Balram opencast project (OCP) of the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited was also forcibly stopped by the villagers on October 6.

Up to now, 1.3 lakh tonne coal supply, around 60,000 tonne coal production and more than 2.5 lakh cubic meter of overburden removal have been affected in Balram OCP due to the internal rift of the villagers, the spokesperson said.

Fuel supply to coal consumers, including NALCO, JITPL, JSPL, BSL and GMR, is affected from Balram OCP, which has a capacity of 45 lakh tonne annual production, he said.

Daily 30,000 cubic meters of overburden removal, 10,000 tonne each of coal production and supply have been affected from Balram OCP.

Even interventions by the civil administration on repeated requests from local mine management have not yielded any positive outcome in the Solada and Danara issue, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, villagers of another village Telaipassi, in the peripheral area of neighbouring Bharatpur Area, forcibly closed office of the Project Officer and Workshop of Balram OCP along with Bharatpur mine on Friday morning. They, however, removed the obstructions and work at Bharatpur mine as well as PO's office resumed.