Prohibitory orders at Talcher coalfield after Friday's rampage

Coal supply problem affects power generation at NTPC plants

The Talcher police imposed Section 144 at Talcher town and railways sidings of coal mines, following a group clash on Friday that led to torching of about 40 vehicles at Jgannath colliery of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MLA) and left many injured.

Local MLA Braja Kishor Pradhan, who was spearheading the protest by a group of labourers against the 'highhandedness' of a newly appointed contractor of the coalmine leading to the clash, has been arrested on charges of fuelling violence.

The police said the prohibitory orders had been clamped in anticipation of more violence in the area following the arrest of the MLA.
 

"We have information that his supporters would try to spread violence by destroying public and private properties. In fact, last night, some of them tried to torch the conveyor belt of a coal mine connected to Nalco (National Aluminium Company) smelting plant at Angul. So keeping in view of the current situation, we have imposed section 144 at the town and other areas for 48 hours," said Angul SP Narasimha Bhol.

Nearly 10 coal mines and seven railway sidings of MCL has remained shut. Though in some mines, police security has been tightened, mining operation could not start, Bhol said.

Talcher is the key coal producing region of the state and is home to the biggest coalfield of India, with nearly 35 billion tonne deposits. Spread over 500 square kilometres, the region sends nearly 100,000 tonne coal to Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and other parts of India daily including state-based thermal power plants.

Two power plants of NTPC located at Talcher are mainly dependent upon MCL-provided coal. In absence of coal supply, the power company is now producing only 1,100 Mw power, almost a third of 3,000 Mw produced earlier.

The district administration said, it is taking all steps to ensure normalcy and bring back production levels at the power plants.

Meanwhile, the incident at the mining town has snowballed into a political war, with parties blaming each other for the incident. The hunger strike by the arrested MLA made it worse.

Congress said it was incorrect to arrest a leader who was trying to raise the voice of local people.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said, the incident took place because of gang war between individuals supported by ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress.

The operation at the sidings stopped over a month and half ago after locals protested the contractor's move to engage his own workers, at the cost of traditional labourers. The villagers have been protesting since then.

During the Friday clash, the angry workers and villagers forcibly shut mines, burnt 35 bikes and four multi-utility vehicles before ransacking offices at the mining sites, after an alleged attack on Pradhan, who was leading the protest rally.

The ravage took place at the Jagannath colliery railways siding in Talcher.

After the MLA was arrested on Saturday from Bhubaneswar after attending winter assembly session, the Talcher district administration has deployed 19 platoons of police to prevent further escalation of violence.

BJD said, though it was not proper to arrest a MLA when assembly was in session, the party would comment only after verifying the facts.