nCoal mining and despatch operations continued to remain paralysed on 12th consecutive day at the nine coal mines of the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) on Sunday as no solution could be reached to the strike of the local villagers.
While the MCL has already describe the demands of the agitators as ‘illegal’ and ‘illogical’, the agitating villagers are in no mood to relent. In the meanwhile, the company has incurred cumulative operational losses up to 21.04 lakh tones of coal, 24.20 lakh tones of despatch and 20.54 lakh Cubic Metre of overburden removal while its coal value loss stands at Rs 213.60 crore.
The situation has turned graver as the power plants depending on coal supply from the MCL both in the State and outside are fast running out of their stock, triggering an imminent shutdown of their operations.
According sources, the NTPC, Kaniha has been forced to close four of its six units while Talcher Thermal Power Plant (TTPS) is running at 50 per cent of Plant Load Factor (PLF). Major power plants in Southern India namely, APGENCO, APPDCL in Andhra Pradesh, TANGEDCO, Neyvelli Lignite Corporation, NTEL ( A joint venture of NTPC and TNEB) in Tamil Nadu and KPCL in Karnataka have reported depleting stocks of coal and are on the verge of closing their units. The MCL has clarified that the ongoing agitation by the villagers has only led to increasing losses of all the stakeholders of the company including power producers, contractors, mirco and small businesses, employees as well as peripheral villages.
The stoppage of Talcher mines by villagers has indirectly affected power generation loss to the tune of 3,339.04 Million Units, as power producers are facing shortage of coal.
“Talcher has lost Rs 1,045 lakh contribution under the District Mineral Fund (DMF) and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The peripheral villages of MCL are entitled to the benefits from the DMF, for which company contributes Rs 42.63 per tonne.
However, with no coal production for the past 11 days, peripheral villages of Talcher coalfields have lost Rs 895 lakh for DMF,” a MCL release informed. The Talcher Truck Owners’ Association called on the Collector, Angul on Saturday and submitted their memorandum seeking his intervention for restoring normalcy in Talcher coalfields. About 5,000 trucks, primarily engaged in transportation of coal, are stranded in Talcher due to ongoing stoppage by some of the villagers.
Even the 15,000 employees of MCL and the 10,000 contractual employees working in MCL are undergoing hardship since all offices and mines have forcibly been closed down by the protesters.
Meanwhile, BJP State general secretary and party’s Talcher MLA nominee in the last election Kalandi Samal said, “The district administration has already accepted all our major demands. Most importantly, it has agreed to frame a policy for compensation for death and injury due to accidents in mines.
Besides, the administration has agreed to have a safety audit of all mines and take steps so that further accidents can be checked. In addition, the administration has agreed to conduct a high level, independent inquiry in the Bharatpur mines.” However, Samal added that the present bandh in all the mines of the Talcher coalfields is uncalled-for and seems to be politically motivated.
Notably, immediately after the Bharatpur mine accident, the BJP had held a bandh in the mine and later after discussion with the district administration called off its agitation.