A dispute over staffing by a contractor has cost the Talcher coalfield in Odisha, operated by Coal India Ltd (CIL) subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), nearly 2 million tonnes of coal sales.

Adding to the trouble, angry protestors brought nearly 200,000 tonnes of daily production to a grinding halt on Thursday.

Supply shortfall

Talcher coalfield, which comprises a number of large open-cast mines, feeds two major NTPC thermal power stations, National Aluminium Company and Tamil Nadu state power utilities.

According to CIL sources, the trouble has its roots in the contractor’s refusal to oblige local politicians by hiring more people than required at the coal field.

As directed by the Centre, CIL recently enforced strict guidelines on labour recruitment by contractors to ensure better working conditions and higher wages.

On the flip side, this has also reduced the contractors’ ability to accommodate excess workersa common practice at coalfields.

This has not gone down well with the politicians in Talcher.

Protests have been taking place since October, impacting nearly 30,000 tonnes of daily despatches by rail.

UGLY Turn

According to an MCL statement, things took an ugly turn on October 28 following the arrest of 48 protestors. An angry mob vandalised CIL offices, torched properties and damaged rail tracks.

“We are expecting operations at one of the mines feeding an NTPC plant to be normalised shortly. But no headway could be achieved in the rest of the mines, including the 20 million tonne Bhubneswari open-cast project,” a company source told Business Line .

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