Sambalpur: Coal mining operations resumed to normal at mines in Ib Valley coalfields of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) on Wednesday, whereas Talcher coalfields plunged back to halt after early day positive action by the coal miners.
Complete normalcy failed to return as coal production Talcher suffered during the general shift as contractors’ labours went on strike again, whereas coal production at mines in Ib Valley coalfields resumed to normal with the start of the day.
With the day-long-bandh of yesterday, the negative growth of company over last financial year today plunged down from 0.87 per cent to 1.3 per cent. MCL could produce only 3,349 tonne as against an average of 4.6 lakh tonne a day during the past one week.
MCL, which contributes about 25 per cent to the total output of Coal India, commands over Talcher coalfields and Ib Valey coalfields in Odisha. However, due to intermittent stoppages and disturbances in mining operations, particularly in various mines under Talcher coalfields, reined in the growth journey of the company.
As per records, work stoppages due disturbances in project areas of MCL have been highest during the current financial year. It is estimated that the company lost production to the tune of 4.867 million tonne in the first three quarters of current financial year due to external disturbances in mining projects.
Mining projects of Talcher coalfields in Angul district suffered maximum stoppages with 10 MT Kaniha OCP being worst hit due to work suspension to the tune of 7 weeks during first 3 quarters of financial year 2018-19, costing production loss of over 1.3 million tonne.
It was followed by Hingula mine of same production capacity which suffered production loss due to stoppages of about 37 working days during the current fiscal, amounting to loss of around 1.03 million tonne coal production.
At the end of 3rd quarter December 31, 2018, the 4 MT capacity Balram OCP remained paralysed up to 29 days, while stoppages of about 8 working days were witnessed at 27 MT Bhubaneswari OCP, over 9 working days at 16 MT Bharatpur OCP, over 8 working days at 16 MT Lingaraj OCP and around 6 working days at 6 MT Jagannath OCP.
Ananta OCP of 6 MT annual capacity was the only mine in Talcher coalfields which did not suffer any disturbance during first three quarters of financial year 2019, and continues to exceed its target.
Similarly, mines in Ib Valley coalfields also suffered loss of working hours during the current fiscal, although not up to the extent of Talcher coalfields.
Major setback in Ib Valley coalfields was from the 21 MT capacity Lakhanpur OCP, which suffered the stoppage for more than a week up to the third quarter, resulting 0.4 million tonne less production. Similarly, 13.7 MT Kulda OCP suffered working hour loss to the tune of more than five days, while its adjacent 2 MT Basundhara (West) suffered working hour loss of 14 days.
Having an ambitious target of 162.5 MT for the current fiscal, the company had planned for a record production of 100 MT from Talcher coalfields alone to achieve the target, with rest coming from mines in Ib Valley coalfields.
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