Coal minister writes to Odisha CM for solving Talcher coalfields workers strike

Coal Minister Piyush Goyal has written to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik requesting speedy resolution of the issues that have caused an indefinite strike in the Talcher coalfields of state-run Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) that have disrupted production. The Talcher coalfields have been completely shut for the last three days owing to the indefinite strike called by the Talcher Surakshya Manch, the letter accessed by IANS says. "It (strike) has reached the stage wherein mines safety has been adversely affected and may worsen as the machine deployed in mines may get submerged due to stoppage of pumping operations," Goyal said.

"This has already caused the loss of coal production of more than 1 MT (million tonnes) at the rate of more than 3 lakh tonnes per day," Goyal noted that in an earlier letter to Patnaik, he had pointed out how the frequent disruption in mining operations in Talcher was adversely affecting the investment climate in Odisha. Requesting the Chief Minister's support to end the "impasse", Goyal wrote: "By December 2018, MCL has already suffered production loss of nearly 20 MT, which has resulted in a revenue loss of about Rs.1,130 crore to the government of Odisha."

(With inputs from agencies.)