Bharat bandh: Coal mining affected in Singareni region

Mancherial: Mining of coal has severely been hit with miners launching a strike opposing auctioning of coal blocks by centre, across 11 underground mines and eight open cast projects in Mancherial and Kumram Bheem Asifabad districts on Monday. Miners boycotted duties demanding that the union government withdraw its decision to auction the four coal blocks […]

Mancherial: Mining of coal has severely been hit with miners launching a strike opposing auctioning of coal blocks by centre, across 11 underground mines and eight open cast projects in Mancherial and Kumram Bheem Asifabad districts on Monday. Miners boycotted duties demanding that the union government withdraw its decision to auction the four coal blocks of Telangana. They raised slogans against it and criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi for trying to ruin the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), which was a source of employment to thousands of families. They warned that they would intensify stir if it continued to adopt anti-coal miners’ policies.

Due to the strike, the excavation of the coal was affected. The mines and opencast projects registered a dip in production by about 70 percent. Authorities of the state-owned coal major said that the protest would adversely impact the output of the coal. They opined the mines and projects would not be able to achieve the annual target set for this financial year.

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Security measures were stepped up at the mines to prevent untoward incidents. Authorities of the SCCL visited the mines to find alternative ways to mine the coal and to prevent losses. They ensured that the coal was excavated at certain opencast projects. In the meantime, SCCL’s recognised trade union Telangana Boggu Ghani Karmeeka Sangham (TGBKS) extended its solidarity to the coal miners.

Kengerla Mallaiah, general secretary of the union lashed out at the Centre. He demanded that the BJP government should stop adopting anti-labor policies and wanted it to withdraw its move to privatize public sector undertakings.

Coal production in Ramagundam region came to standstill

Peddapalli: Coal production in Ramagundam region of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) came to standstill on Monday, as workers stayed away from their duties following a two-day nationwide strike. A total of 13,500 workers are working in six underground and four opencast coal mines in RG-I, II & III regions. Except workers of essential services, all the workers stayed away from their duties. As a result, about 70,000 tons of coal production was interrupted on the first day of the two-day strike on Monday.

While national trade unions such as AITUC, INTUC, CITU and HMS participated in the strike, recognized trade union Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS) extended support to strike from outside. Meanwhile, BMS stayed away from the strike as the union government made it clear that there was no question of privatization of coal blocks.

Opposition parties alleged that TBGKS leaders and activists attended duties in opencast mines. On the other hand, leaders of various national trade unions visited underground and opencast mines and raised slogans against the anti-workers policies of the union government.

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