Unions oppose hiving off CIL unit

An expert committee recommendation to hive off Coal India’s exploration and consultancy arm into a separate firm under the Coal Ministry has triggered a controversy with unions opposing the move.

In an interim report, the advisory group for integrated development of power, coal and renewable energy observed that Central Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI) be hived off into a separate consultancy to help the entire mining industry enjoy its services, say sources. The Ranchi-based CMPDI was intimated about the decision on September 8.

Headed by former Power Minister Suresh Prabhu, the advisory group includes former CIL Chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya; former Power Secretary and Chairman of BSES, RV Shahi; former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha and former bureaucrat Anil Baijal.

Officers and employees of CMPDI, however, have raised protests against the move. .

In a meeting with CIL Chairman AK Dubey in Delhi on Monday, all officers and employees’ unions opposed the move.

“We are united in opposing the recommendation. However, the CIL chairman said that no such proposal has come for discussion as yet,” Jibon Roy, General Secretary of CITU-affiliated All India Coal Workers Federation, told Business Line .

CITU, or the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, is the trade union wing of the CPI(M).

But CIL chairman’s denial had hardly been successful in dousing the fire.

Private sector to benefit?

In a press statement issued on Tuesday, RP Singh, General Secretary of the CITU-affiliated National Coal Organisation Employees Association, claimed that the move was aimed at helping private mine consultancies grab a pie of the CIL orders.

According to Singh, CMPDI now works as an integral part of CIL. Once separated, the national miner has to take the circuitous route for appointing consultants. CMPDI has never refused to take up any consultancy job offered by non-CIL consumers. Its client list includes Steel Authority of India Ltd, Reliance Industries, NTPC, Adani Group and JSW Steel, the statement said.

“The real reason…is to provide business opportunities to private consultancy firms that have mushroomed in India recently,” the statement said adding that at least one committee member, Bhattacharyya, is a senior official of one such private firm.

Bhattacharyya is executive director of Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals that has mining consultancy services arms in India and Australia.

When contacted, Bhattacharyya said observations of the committee have little do with Deepak’s consultancy business. It was formed way before he joined the company in 2012 and is still in nascent stage. He is not a shareholder of Deepak and his association with the advisory group is purely based on his record in coal industry, said the former Coal India Chairman.

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