The Hindu Business Line : No coal comfort for Mamata in NDA manifesto

WHATEVER chance the Nationalist Trinamool Congress had to make a dent in the Asansol-Ranigunj coal belt of West Bengal, after Ms Mamata Banerjee was given the coal and mining portfolio at the Centre, seems to have been lost with the publication of the NDA manifesto, hinting at private participation in the coal industry.

Though Bardhaman district, where Asansol is located, is a stronghold of the CPI(M), the power balance in the coal belt is more or less even, with Trinamool having three Assembly seats.

Ms Mamata Banerjee's present portfolio initially did appear to give Trinamool scope for making a mark in the region in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

CITU leader and Bardhaman district committee member, Mr Ashoke Samanta, told Business Line, "With the Coal and Mining Ministry under her, Ms Banerjeecould have been able to make Trinamool's position stronger in this belt. But with the NDA manifesto, things have certainly taken a turn for the worse for her.''

With the coal industry of that particular belt ailing for quite some time, the confidence level among the workers is already abysmally low; the threat of privatisation has further added to their worries.

From a total workforce of 1.94 lakh, the industry's core worker strength has come down to 1.04 lakh in the region. In the New Ghusick Colony of the Eastern Coalfields Ltd, work has come down to just two shifts a day from three.

Mr Raghab Naik, the overman in the unit, shares the opinion of all the workers there: "We are all opposed to privatisation. At least while we are with the Government, our jobs are secure. We want to remain with the Government.''

Mr Ram Lakhan, a worker in the Kali Pahari unit, said, "What the NDA is doing is wrong. Even though there is a lot of coal in the region, still the Government is trying to close them down or sell them off. What will happen to us workers and our families? Do they want us to starve?''

Sitting MP, Mr Bikash Choudhury of the CPI(M), told Business Line, "People of the region in general are totally against private participation in the coal sector. If the NDA persists with this, which they are most likely to do, then physical resistance will be required.''

For her part, Ms Mamata Banerjee rushed in to salvage the situation, stating that as long as she was Minister, she would never allow privatisation of the coal industry. She further said that she had little time to react after the manifesto draft was finalised.

However, the BJP President, Mr Venkaiah Naidu, refuted her statements, saying that she had been consulted before the final draft of the manifesto was prepared, though she did voice her opposition, after the manifesto was published.