Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC were clamped in the Mahanadi Coalfields limited’s (MCl) Basundhara-Garjanbahal mines area and its outskirts under Hemagiri block in Sundargarh district on Monday following a dispute emerging between the truck owners’ association and the MCl authorities.
The prohibitory orders would continue for 30 days, police sources said. According to reports, the Sundargarh Truck Owners’ Association (STOA) has been opposing introduction of multi-axle trucks for transportation of coal by Gangpur Multi-axle Truck Owners’ Association (GMTOA).
Members of the STOA on Friday had called a day-long bandh opposing the GMTOA and the mines authority for allowing the vehicles. Due to the bandh, road transportation of 12,000 tonnes of coal per day from Kulda and Basundhara mines of the MCl remained paralysed for the third consecutive day. Even 26 persons were arrested during the agitation in front of the mines gate.
Though the district administration tried to settle the dispute, the STOA didn’t make up its mind. “Expecting any law and order situation in and outside the mines area, we clamp prohibitory order in the mines area and its outskirts,” said a police official.