The  coal ministry has directed the Coal India Limited (CIL) to initiate steps to constitute Joint Bipartite Committee on Coal industry (JBCCI)-XI within the shortest possible time since the term of Xth expires on June 30 this year.

A letter to this effect has been sent to the chairman CIL by the coal ministry citing the necessity of constituting  fresh JBCCI so that the negotiations for the wage revision of  coal miners under National Coal Wage Agreement (NCWA)-XI  be hammered out.

The committee is to finalise wages of coal miners working at different subsidiaries of CIL besides the Singareni Collieries Company Limited(SCCL).

The coal ministry has also made clear that the representation of INTUC ,one of the five central trade unions that are operative in the coal industry, may be considered only on basis of the outcome of the High Court orders .

It's worth mentioning that the  two warring factions of the INTUC since have staked claim to be the real one a court case is pending at Delhi High  Court. This was one of the reasons why the seats of INTUC remained vacant during the JBCCI-X.

The four central trade unions including RSS  backed  Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh , CITU, AICTU and Hind Mazdoor Sangh (HMS) happen to be representative now in JBCCI and expect to get it in JBCCI-XI too.

Senior leader of AICTU Lakhan Lal Mahto said ,it's a good gesture shown by the coal ministry and will help boost morale of coal miners to meet demand of coal during this pandemic.

MAHTO expected that the new JBCCI would be notified by the CIL in the first week of July as the Xth superseded on June 30.

Mahto said ,the private coal companies too have their share of seats in the JBCCI and NCWA but neither of them operative in the country come forward to join the aforementioned two .