HYDERABAD / PEDDAPALLI / ADILABAD / KHAMMAM: Coal production came to a grinding halt at all mines of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) on Thursday as the workers launched their three-day strike, protesting against the Central government’s decision to auction four coal blocks for commercial mining. With all unions affiliated to the five central trade unions — INTUC, AITUC, CITU, HMS and BMS as well as the TRS-affiliated Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS) extending their support, the strike was near-total at all 23 underground and 19 open-cast mines.
More than 42,000 regular and around 25,000 contract workers of the company struck work on the first day, which, according to officials, resulted in a total loss of two lakh tonnes of coal production per day. While the company incurs a huge loss per day, the workers too stand to lose their salaries each day, they said.
In Peddapalli, the union leaders also expressed displeasure over the reluctance of people’s representatives to step out and support the strike while saying that the workers will teach them a befitting lesson in the upcoming elections. The leaders of various unions urged all the workers to make the 72-hour strike a grand success in order to ensure their job security In Godavarikhani area, the unions took out massive processions and also staged sit-in dharnas in front of the offices of general managers.
Singareni workers strike hits coal transport to AP, K’taka and TN
Coal Mines Officers Association of India (CMOAI) Singareni branch president Jakkam Ramesh and secretary NV Rajashekhar Rao stated that the privatisation of the coal blocks would prove detrimental to the company and demanded that the Centre stop the move and allocate the blocks to Singareni.
In Kothagudem, a tense situation prevailed at the company’s corporate office when the striking workers got into a heated argument with the police. Among those who came out in support of the striking workers was former MLA Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao.
The strike also hit transport of coal to States like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.
Meanwhile, in Bellampalli, Srirampur and Mandamarri divisions that come under Mancherial and Kumrambheem-Asifabad districts, 60,000 tonnes of production is likely to be hit per day, leading to the SCCL suffering a loss of `18 crore. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, requesting the Centre not to auction the coal blocks of the SCCL as it would hit thermal power generation in the State.
TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy, while expressing solidarity with the striking workers, said that it was the responsibility of the State government to exert pressure on the Centre to ensure that the coal blocks were not auctioned.
Ministry of Coal proposed to auction JBROC-3, Sravanpally OC, Koya Gudem OC-3 and KK-6 UG Block under Union Ministry’s Trench 13. The State requested the Centre to allocate these blocks to SCCL.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Hyderabad, TRS MPs G Ranjith Reddy and Nethakani Venkatesh said that the State government had in fact wrote a letter back in 2015, requesting the Central government to allocate the four coal blocks to SCCL. “The BJP-led Central government is now trying to give those blocks to private players,” they said.