TALCHER | Oct 18, 2016: Talcher coalfield, which normally produces more than two lakh tonne of coal, was shut down on Monday following a strike called by the Private Contract Workers Association demanding annual bonus.
"There was a total halt in coal production in all the nine coal mines and no coal was dispatched to anywhere due to strike by the workers. Both the power plants of NTPC and Nalco received no coal. The financial loss to the State Government is to the tune of `five crore while the Centre sustained '15 crore loss," said an official.
The contractual workers demanded bonus, double wages for working on Sunday and free medical facilities at par with regular workers.
According to sources, MCL authorities had asked its private contractual agencies to follow the bonus Act and pay the money to their workers during puja. While some of the companies followed the directives, many others did not pay any bonus to the workers creating resentment among them.
During the puja, these workers were sore over non-payment of bonus by their employers when their counterparts of MCL got `54,000 each as bonus.
According to trade union leaders, about 10,000 contractual workers are engaged by about 200 private companies operating in Talcher coalfield of MCL. Though these workers are credited with more than 80 per cent of performance of MCL, they receive low wages and work more hours.
Following persistent demands of the contract workers for bonus, the former coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal in 2013 had announced `1000 as a special Diwali gift which was paid across Coal India Limited (CIL). But the scheme was later discontinued by CIL.
Veteran trade union leader of INTUC Souvagya Pradhan slammed such companies for not implementing bonus Act and demanded immediate payment of bonus. “There is no point of denial as the private contractors get the bonus fund under the contract from coal companies. I strongly demand MCL, the largest coal producer in India, to pay Diwali gift to all its contract workers,” Pradhan added.
(Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/)