Unwarranted absence of contractors’ workers on Friday paralysed coal mining operations at the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited’s (MCL) Talcher coalfields in Angul district of Odisha. Only departmental manpower and machines of MCL were at work in Talcher coalfields, which accounts for around 3 lakh tonne daily coal production and despatch to the consumers.

In a press release, the company said MCL has already incurred a loss of over 2.3 million tonne (MT) coal production and despatch since April 1 this year due to such uncalled-for disruptions in Talcher coalfields, whereas the company suffered a financial loss of over Rs 332 crore.

Similarly, the government exchequer has lost about Rs 170 crore against royalty, District Mineral Fund (DMF), National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) etc. during the current financial year.

The Angul district has incurred a loss in the DMF to the tune of Rs 11.5 crore due to sporadic disruptions in coal mining operations during the past seven weeks.

It may be noted that the Mahanadi Coalfields Contractual Transport Workers Union of private contractors’ workers had stopped all mining activities in the entire Talcher coalfields for continuous 88 hours from 18th to 21st April, resulting in 1.1 MT less coal production and despatch to the consumers.

Besides this, infrequent disruptions by the contractors’ workers in different areas of Talcher coalfields further added to the woes of MCL, which is running about 1.5 MT short on its plan for achieving the targeted 204 MT coal production and dispatch in the financial year 2023-24.

The company, paying the best in the industry HPC (high power committee) wages and providing free outpatient (OPD) facilities to contractors’ workers, has recently sanctioned Rs 25.2 crore against gift coupons at the rate of Rs 15000 to each of 16,798 contractors’ workers as a goodwill gesture on achieving the new milestones in production and productivity during last financial year.

Considering the responsibility to ensure adequate coal to meet the energy requirements of the country, it is appealed to the contractors’ workers to refrain from such uncalled-for work disruptions and contribute to the growth of the nation.