Coal industry employees across the country today went on a five-day strike, halting production at over 60 per cent of state-run Coal India units that may also severely hit fuel supply to power plants, while talks failed late tonight to end the industrial action.
The government officials held hours-long negotiations with union representatives, but failed to convince them to call off the strike, which is being billed as the biggest industrial action since 1977.
Claiming that over 5 lakh coal industry workers across the country have gone off-work, the union leaders said they are open to negotiations at 'political' level, including with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal.
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On its first day itself, the strike is estimated to have caused production losses to the tune of Rs 70 crore in first two shifts today, officials told PTI.
The strike call has been given by all five leading trade unions of the country, including the BJP-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS).
The industrial action is in protest against 'disinvestment and restructuring of state-run Coal India' and to press for demands including the roll-back of what they call as "process of denationalising of coal sector".
The Labour Ministry said in a statement that the strike has affected the working of CIL and its subsidiaries, as also the mines of Singareni Collieries Co Ltd.
The strike, joined by all five major trade unions - BMS, INTUC, AITUC, CITU and HMS -- is likely to affect production of up to 1.5 million tonnes (MT) of the dry-fuel per day besides fuel supply to power plants which are already grappling with fuel shortages.
Coming out of late-night talks, INTUC Secretary General S Q Zama told PTI, "Negotiations at the secretary-level have failed, but we are open for discussions at political level, at the level of Prime Minister or Coal Minister.
"We did our best to arrive at an amicable solution, but the (Coal) Secretary has his own limitations. Around five lakh workers, including 3.5 lakh from CIL, are on strike."
CIL Chairman Sutirtha Bhattacharya, who assumed charge yesterday itself, said that he was hopeful that the situation would be resolved in an amicable manner.
