The five-day coal industry strike called by trade unions has only partial impact on Singareni Collieries Company ltd (SCCl) in Telangana as the company expects near normal production Tuesday.
A spokesman of SCCl told IANS that the strike call had no major impact on the coal production in the mines as the major recognized trade union, the Telangana Boggu Ghani Karmika Sangham (BGKS), is not participating in the strike.
SCCl general manager S. Chandrasekhar told IANS that "all mines are working. The attendance is partial in underground mines but normal in open cast mines".
He said 18,000 out of 34,000 employees in the first shift (7 a.m. to 3 p.m.) attended their duties. About 10,000 employees participated in the strike but this is not likely to have major impact on the production.
"We expect normal production of 1.5 lakh tonnes," the official said.
SSCl's produces 1.5 lakh to 1.6 lakh tonnes of coal every day.
Jointly owned by the Telangana and the central governments, SSCl currently operates 15 opencast and 34 underground mines in four districts of Telangana. It has around 59,000 employees.
Though Hind Mazdoor Sangh (HMS) is one of the five trade unions called the national strike, the SCCl employees owing allegiance to it attended their duties. Only a section of employees supporting Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) are participating in the strike.
The trade unions have called the strike to protest against "disinvestment and restructuring of state-run Coal India" and to press for their other demands including the roll-back of what they call as "process of denationalising of coal sector".
The strike is likely to hit power, steel, cement and other sectors in different parts of the country. However, Telangana State General Corporation (TSGENCO) officials said they have sufficient coal stocks for the next 20 days. The strike is not likely to hit four thermal power stations run by TSGENCO.