Protest cuts output by 50% in MCL’s Odisha coal mines

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Sambalpur, Apr 10:

Coal supply to various power plants from the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited’s ‘â EURO ™s project’ has been reduced by 50 per cent after the villagers resorted to road blockades affecting transportation of dry fuel around Jagannath area of Talcher coalfields in Odisha.

MCL’s ‘â EURO ™s’ at Jagannath area comprises three projects: ‘â EURO’ Bhubaneswari OCP, Ananta OCP and ‘Jagannath Colliery â EURO’, which contributes 35 per cent to the total coal production of the company.

It had clocked over 121 million tonnes coal production during the financial year ended March 31, 2015.

Dispatch of coal from the 25 MT Bhubneswari OCP and 10 MT Ananta OCP has been severely affected after residents of Dera village blocked roasd and stopped transportation on April 7 evening.

As against daily dispatch target of 113666 tonnes, the company could dispatch only 61793 tonnes on April 8, 2015 and 55866 tonnes on April 9, 2015. There has been zero coal dispatch from the Ananta OCP since April 8, MCL said in a press release.

Power consumers, including NTPC Kaniha, TTPS Talcher, Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board, APGEMCO, Talwandisaboo, Sesa Sterlite  Jharsuguda etc, will be affected due to this disruption in coal transportation.

Besides affecting production and dispatch of coal, the villagers have locked the Project Offices of Ananta and Bhubaneswari OCPs since the last three days. The villagers also ransacked the Office of the General Manager of Jagannath area and interrupted the work, creating fear among the officers and staff at Jagannath area headquarters, said the release.