The livelihoods of thousands of truck owners in the Ib Valley area in Jharsuguda district have been severely affected with coal transportation by rail increasing by the day.
The MCl’s Ib Valley management is increasingly transporting coal by rail instead of by road which impacts the business of road transporters and truck owners. A significant part of the region's populace depends upon road transportation business and the recent decision of management has jeopardised their livelihood further.
The management has earmarked a daily limit of 12 rakes of coal to be transported via rail and the balance output is to be given for road transportation. Each rake is made up of 58 wagons and has a capacity of carrying 3,750 tonnes.
"The management is only thinking about production without any concern for the livelihood of truck owners in the region", said Brajrajnagar Truck owners Association president Amiya Kumar Samal.
After coal is taken through auction by major industries like Vedanta, Bhusan Power and Steel and Aditya Aluminium, the transporters are appointed. In case of the materials not lifted in time, a penalty of Rs 200 per tonne is charged as EMD. Due to this development, the truck owners of Brajrajnagar, Belpahar and Bandhbahal are incurring heavy losses for being denied the opportunity for road transportation of coal. Many truck owners have now failed to pay installments against bank loans they had taken to buy trickss.
Earlier, around 700 trucks were transporting coal by road every day. But the number has come down to 200 now. The economy of the district has also taken a beating after shut down of industrial houses like Orient Paper Mill and BTM.
Brajrajnagar Coal Movers Association president Ajit Dhal said due to the MCl management's decision, around 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes of coal per month could not be transported by road. The truck owners and transporters associations have jointly decided to take to the street in coming days against the Ib Valley's management.
When contacted, MCl Ib Valley General Manager Madhusudan Sharma said, “Even during the rainy season, we were delivering 5,000-6,000 of tonnes road sale coal on a daily basis.”
He added that he has requested MCl Headquarters that the Ib Valley needs to provide 11 to 12 racks of coal everyday to various power projects of India as well, therefore, Vasundhara and lakhanpur Area of MCl should provide the coal for road sale.