Talcher: Coal production and transportation have been badly hit for the second consecutive day Tuesday in this coalfield region following an indefinite cease-work strike by contractual workers.
Coal production and transportation at eight coal mines including Jagannath, Lingaraj, Bhubaneswari, Bharatpur, Ananta and Kaniha of MCL came to a grinding halt due to the strike.
As a result, coal supply to NTPC, Nalco and TTPC has been badly affected.
The workers’ demand includes hike in daily wages, medical facilities, biometric cards system, reinstatement of retrenched 131 contractual workers, skill development training and 25 per cent reservation in English medium schools of MCL.
The production and transportation of coal is being carried out by contractual workers. About 1.60 lakh MT of coal is being transported by road and rail to different parts of the state and out of the state.
While MCL has incurred huge losses due to the strike, the state and central governments have also suffered revenue losses.
Agitating workers Monday afternoon took out a rally led by local MLA Braj Kishore Pradhan to the sub-collector’s office.
Later a memorandum was submitted to the Governor through the sub collector.
According to latest figures, the coal production loss Monday is estimated at 2.3 lakh tonnes while despatch loss at 2.6 lakh tonnes from Talcher Coalfields.
The strike is likely to have a domino effect on coal consumers, particularly power plants in Odisha and some in southern states, sources said.
