ROURKELA: Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) continues to suffer tangible and intangible losses for the second consecutive day on Monday with disruptions in coal production and transportation from mines in the Hemgir block of Sundargarh district owing to the protest by displaced persons from 14 affected villages.
About one lakh tonne coal gets supplied from the MCL mines in Hemgir throughout the country and the protest is likely to have wider implications in power generation if it continues for days. A team of senior MCL officers including director (Technical/Operation) JK Vorah and director (Technical / Project & Planning) AS Bapat on Monday evening held a discussion with the protesters but it ended without any result.
Demanding expeditious disbursement of land compensation as per the recent Supreme Court order and settlement of Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) benefits, the displaced persons of the affected villages have been camping on the Bankibahal road junction in front of the office of the MCL’s Kulda open cast mine.
Sources said the protest began on Sunday with small groups of protesters squatting at multiple locations including MCL office at Tiklipada and GM office of MCL’s Mahalaxmi Area and Sardega railway siding. Coal production at the Basundhara, Garjanbahal and Kulda mines have fully been paralysed along with transportation of coal by road and rail, sources added.
MCL sources said bulk of MCL’s coal from Hemgir goes to power sector industries followed by non-power sector industries. Against its production capacity of 36.6 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) from Garjanbahal, Basundhara and Kulda mines, the MCL is learnt to have dispatched about 34 MTPA in 2022-23.
A MCL spokesperson said initial land compensation has already been given to majority of the displaced persons, adding they are pressing for differential land compensation as per the decision of the Supreme Court (SC)- appointed Claims Commission. He said the MCL has filed an appeal in the SC and it would go by the court decision on the appeal.
MCL Basundhara-Mahalaxmi Bisthapith Suraksha Manch (MCLBMBSM) president Rajendra Naik, referring to the judgment of the Supreme Court on November 3, 2022, said the MCL is interpreting the judgment to suit its needs and lingering compensation disbursement and settlement of R&R benefits. He said for 33 years the displaced persons are suffering with the MCL neither obeying the decisions of the SC-appointed Claims Commission nor the state government.