The Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) on Saturday alerted its safety setup to plan for quick and structural inspection of safety conditions of mines in view of prolonged obstruction during this monsoon, as local villagers’ agitation stalling all works in eight mines in Talcher entered the eleventh day.
The MCL, which has in place a five-layered safety mechanism to ensure incident-free mining operations, would allow movement of men and machinery to resume operations only after clearance from the statutory authorities of respective mining units.
It has been observed that the illegal stoppage has made vulnerable the mining conditions at Talcher coalfields as the daily safety assessments by mines authorities have not been allowed by some locals, following an accident due to strata failure in a mine under Bharatpur area on July 23.
While the company is exploring all possibilities to resume mining operations at the earliest, the forceful stoppage of safety teams to inspect mines, transport roads and road worthiness of vehicles in Talcher coalfields makes mines further vulnerable to coal catching internal combustion, water logging and dumps slides, electricity breakdowns besides fuel-filled mining machines getting damaged due to no periodic maintenance.
Meanwhile, in addition to inquiry being conducted by the Director General Mines Safety (DGMS) and Internal Safety Organisation (ISO), the MCL has appointed the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR), Dhanbad to submit its report.