Talcher: Coal dispatches from Talcher coal mines of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) is expected to resume soon as negotiations started after 13 days of impasse on Monday.
A meeting of MCL senior executives, the trade union leaders and the local villagers in the presence of Talcher sub-collector Paresh Nayak, held on Monday, is expected to break the impasse.
Earlier in the day, the MCL employees led by various union leaders had urged the local administration to bring normalcy for resumption of mining activities. The employees and the trade union leaders met the Talcher sub-collector and urged him to take necessary steps to start mining operations in the eight unaffected mines, said a MCL spokesperson.
Four workers were killed and nine others injured in the mishap at Bharatpur mine in Odisha’s Angul district on July 23, 2019. The mutilated body of the fourth worker was retrieved from the dump on Saturday.
Following the incident, the locals led by BJD and BJP leaders launched an agitation demanding compensation for the victims. The agitation entered into 14 days on Tuesday crippling the mining operations and delivery of coal to various power plants and other consumers in the country.
MCL has offered compensation as per the Employee Compensation Act besides a contractual job as governed by the high powered committee, he said.
The disruption of coal supply has forced the NTPC to shut down most of its units of Kaniha and Talcher power plants during the last 13 days.
MCL spokesperson said that the cumulative losses up to August 4 stands at 23.14 lakh tonne of coal, 26.64 lakh tonne of Despach, 22.56 lakh cubic metre of over burden removal, loss to the company stands at Rs 234.92 crore, loss to the Central and state exchequer at Rs 152.06 crore and a generation Loss of 3672.31 million units, he claimed.
