By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 11, 2015 :

Workers representatives from Jagannath Area of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) in Angul district on Saturday sought the intervention of district administration, as protests by the local people have cut the public sector unit’s production and dispatch by 25 per cent.

Representatives of workers unions sought intervention of district administration to normalise the coal mining and supply operations which has come to grinding halt since Wednesday last following protest by locals from peripheral Dera village. The irate villagers have stopped the movement of coal-laden trains from open cast coal mining projects under Jagannath Area run by MCL.

The blockade has led to drastic drop in production and dispatch by 50 per cent of its 1.2 lakh ton daily output since April 8.

MCL’s Jagannath Area, which comprises three projects – Bhubaneswari OCP, Ananta OCP and Jagannath Colliery, contributing about 35 per cent to the total coal production of the company.

Coal supply to the power consumers, including NTPC Kaniha, TTPS Talcher, Tamilnadu State Electricity
Board, APGEMCO, Talwandisaboo, Sesa Sterlite-Jharsuguda, etc., from Jagannath Areas remains affected.

Earlier on April 9, the villagers had also ransacked the office of the general manager, Jagannath Area creating a state of panic among the MCL employees.

MCL is the second largest coal producing subsidiary of Coal India operating two major coal reserves in
Odisha i.e Talcher Coalfields (India’s biggest coal mine) in Angul district and Ib Valley Coalfields in Jharsuguda and Sundergarh districts.