Agitation against Panem Coal Mines ends

A 22-day-long agitation at one of Jharkhand’s largest mines run by Panem Coal Mines Ltd was called off today after the company agreed to implement the provisions of an agreement it signed with a local organisations in 2006.

Panem is a joint venture between the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and a Kolkata-based private company. Its mine in the Pakur district has about 562 million tonnes of coal reserves. The company has been allowed to do open-mining for 44 years.

The strike, launched by former chief minister Babulal Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, had threatened an economic blockade which would have disrupted coal supplies from the state, resulting in a severe crisis in PSEB-run plants.

 

The decision to end the strike was arrived at a meeting organised by Santhal Pargana commissioner Avinash Kumar at Dumka on Friday with Panem Coal Mines chairman and managing director Ujjwal Upadhyay, Congress leader Stephen Marandi and Anil Murmu, convener of the Rajmahal Pahari Bachao Andolan Samiti, the outfit with which Panem Coal Mines had signed the 2006 agreement.

Murmu told reporters Upadhyay had assured them that a plus-two school and a hospital would be set up in six months. He also agreed to provide irrigation facilities to the farmers in the affected area, besides electricity, employment and adequate compensation to land losers.