Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that the nation-wide strike called today would not impact coal production much and there is sufficient stock to meet any eventualities. About four lakh coal workers across the country have joined the nation-wide strike called by ten trade unions protesting against changes in labours laws and privatisation in PSUs, including Coal India.
“By and large there is no problem...In coal production if there is any setback it would be a few lakh tonnes and I already have 40 million tonnes of coal at <g data-gr-id="69">pitheads</g>... I do not think there is going to be much of an impact (of <g data-gr-id="81">strike</g>),” Goyal told reporters on the sidelines of a function. Asked about the feedback of the strike in the coal sector, he <g data-gr-id="80">said</g> “Little bit may be in some pockets. Reports in the morning <g data-gr-id="79">was</g> quite encouraging.”
“But in any case today electricity generation is not a problem,” he added. However, Coal India Director Personnel, R Mohan Das said, “About 50 <g data-gr-id="75">per cent</g> of the production has been hit as in most of the mines there is attendance by 50 <g data-gr-id="76">per cent</g> workers.” The workers joined strike at a time when the government is putting pressure on the PSU to augment production and has set an ambitious production target of one billion tonne by 2020. Coal India accounts for over 80 <g data-gr-id="77">per cent</g> of the domestic coal production. CIL achieved an output of 192.37 million tonnes (MT) in the first five months of the current fiscal, missing its target of 196.73 million tonnes. Coal India’s output target for the current fiscal is 550 million tonnes.
During the 2014-15 fiscal, the PSU missed the production target by 3 <g data-gr-id="68">per cent</g> recording an output of 494.23 million tonnes. In January, the coal trade unions had called for a strike, but later backed off after an agreement with the government, which ruled out denationalisation of Coal India and promised to protect interests of the PSU’s employees. The government will sell ten per cent stake in the PSU through a public offer, which could fetch over Rs 20,000 crore to the exchequer. The day-long nationwide strike called by 10 central trade unions today crippled iron ore production of state-owned NMDC by nearly 75,000 tonnes across all its mines, a senior official of the PSU said.
“As many as 4,200 employees participated in the strike affecting the production by nearly 75,000 tonnes in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka,” the official said. However, he said the strike will not impact the overall production target. Nearly 80 <g data-gr-id="55">per cent</g> of the 12,000 <g data-gr-id="63">workforce</g> of Visakhapatnam-based Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) participated in the strike, an official spokesperson of the steel-maker said.
He said all the 6,000 officials belonging to executive cadre were present on duty on Wednesday. The PSU has three blast furnaces and currently it is operating only two as one of them is under revamp.
“On an average we produce 12,000 tonnes of hard metal. In view of today’s strike, we will reschedule the target,” the official said. The strike was near total in Telangana-based Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) with about 80 <g data-gr-id="61">per cent</g> of its 58,000 employees participating in the protest.
“In the first shift the attendance was only 15 to 20 <g data-gr-id="59">per cent</g>. Out of 35,000 employees we see only 5,000 working in the shift. The daily coal production of 1.5 lakh tonnes may come down to one lakh tonnes today. Underground mines in most of the areas did not operate today,” an SCCL official said.
Moreover, as a day-long nationwide strike was observed by various trade unions, the government said the call did not have much impact even as it hinted at meeting the workers’ “aspirations” on nine out of 12 demands. “The impact of the strike call given by some of the Central Trade Unions has not been felt much in the most parts of the country as per information received from all over the country,” Labour Ministry said in a press release.
It further said that out of 12 central trade unions, two did not join the strike, three unions remained neutral and only seven unions went on strike. “It indicates that the workers want to settle their demands through the dialogue and discussion. The workers are in agreement with the Government and are looking forward to positive steps taken by the Government on nine of their twelve demands which will be met as per their aspirations,” the Ministry said.
The ten unions, however, said in a joint statement that the response to the strike call was “unprecedented” with “millions of workers” staying away from work. Labour Ministry said the situation by and large remained normal and peaceful across the country. “Most of the employees attended their offices. Trains, buses, auto rickshaws, lorries plied as usual. There has been <g data-gr-id="72">minimal</g> effect in banking, coal, major ports and defence production units. The essential services functioned more or less normally,” it added.
An Inter-Ministerial Committee constituted by the Prime Minister had earlier held several rounds of meetings with the representatives of Central Trade Unions to discuss their demands.