Coal India’s state-run production decreased by 63% on the first day of a three-day strike, according to a company official, by its workers affiliated with five trade unions.
The removal of overload or clearing of topsoil to make coal seams ready for mining was 57.84%, the official said.
Coal India produced 4.81,000 tons of coal on Thursday, which is 37% of the last 10 days of average production (from June 22 to July 1) of 12,96,900 tonnes, the official said.
Protesting trade unions, however, claimed that there was no production and dispatch on the first day of the strike.
The Ministry of Coal said that 37 per cent of production could happen because of about 100,000 contract workers employed by Coal India.
The shipment of coal by CIL on the first day of the strike was 41.14 per cent at 5.78,000 tonnes, compared to 14.05,000 tons of average coal shipped in the last 10 days (from June 22 to July 1), the company official said.
The removal of overload was also 58% of the normal removal, the official said. Normal removal, he said, was calculated as the average of the previous 10 days immediately before the day of the strike, he said.
The Ministry official said that the “overload removal was good because of the contribution made by contract workers, mostly engaged in overload removal work.”
The attendance was 32.36%, with 63,581 employees reporting to work compared to 1,96,487 employees reporting to work in Coal India and its various subsidiaries on 22 June, the official said.
Five trade unions, including the RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) working in Coal India Ltd (CIL) took a three-day strike on Thursday to protest the government’s decision to start commercial coal mining.
According to analysts, the coal strike will not have an impact on the power industry and electricity generation, as the power stations have a sufficient supply of dry fuel.
The coal stock in the country’s thermal power plants has risen to the highest level of 50 million tons ( MT), enough for 30 days, said Coal and Mining Minister Pralhad Joshi a fortnight ago.
