POST NEWS NETWORK
Talcher, May 6: The agitation by Bhalugadia villagers in Angul district demanding employment for loss of their land to coal mines saw coal extraction and transportation from 10 mines of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd– in the country’s largest coalfields — here coming to a halt Wednesday.
The closure of the mines disrupted coal transportation on roads and rail routes to National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Talcher Thermal Power Station (TTPS) and Nalco. The villagers forced shutdown of the projects and areas offices of MCL after mines authorities and local administration ignored their demand. MCL-owned Talcher Coalfields produces about 2.40lakh tonnes of coal every day, on which the company pays about Rs 3.7crore as royalty, SST/VAT and Entry Tax — to the state exchequer and Rs 3.86crore as excise duty, CST, stowing excise duty and clean energy cess — to the Central exchequer, a MCL spokesman said.The villagers reached MCL mines
early in the morning and brought mining to a complete halt. The locals are also supportive of the villagers of
Bhalugadia in the de-allocated Gopalprasad West coalblock, the periphery of MCL’s Hingula area that was allocated to public-private joint venture MJSJ Ltd.
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