Indian coal miners return to work after ending strike
January 8, 2015, 6:30 am

Nearly 500000 coal workers had gone on a strike since Tuesday after five major trade unions gave a call for the biggest ever industrial action in four decades against what they called the attempts for “disinvestment in Coal India and denationalisation of coal mining” [PTI]

The move came after the government assured trade unions that the state-run Coal India Ltd (CIL) will not be privatised.

In two days, the strike, the biggest walkout India had seen in four decades, caused production loss of an estimated 3 billion rupees with over 75 per cent of the daily 1.5 million tonnes a day output taking a hit.

A prolonged strike at Coal India, which accounts for 80 percent of the nation’s supply could have resulted in massive power outages across the country.

Nearly 100 thermal power plants were under threat of running out of fuel supplies.

Nearly 500000 coal workers had gone on a strike since Tuesday after five major trade unions gave a call for the biggest ever industrial action in four decades against what they called the attempts for “disinvestment in Coal India and denationalisation of coal mining”.

The unions are protesting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to privatize the state monopoly fearing job losses. Modi had signed an executive order in October that would allow the government to end a government monopoly on the mining and selling of coal.

The five-day strike was called off midway after officials assured the union leaders that the government will form a committee will have representation from all five trade unions and officials of Coal India to look into their concerns.

“There is no intention for denationalisation of CIL. The present and future interest of CIL employees will not be affected in any manner. CIL will be protected and there need be no apprehension about its ownership or management going into private hands,” India’s Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday.

“The strike has been called off,” AITUC leader Lakhan Lal Mahato said on Wednesday.

There were reports of clashes between protesting coal workers and police in the eastern Indians states of Jharkhand and West Bengal earlier on Wednesday.

India is the world’s third-largest buyer of overseas coal although it has the world’s fifth-largest reserves of coal at 61 billion tonnes.

Of the 100 Indian power plants that are powered by domestic coal, 42 had supplies of less than seven days as of Jan. 1, according to the Power Ministry’s Central Electricity Authority.

TBP and Agencies