Asansol | Nov 07, 2017: The supply of coal from four mines of Eastern Coalfields Limited to power utilities across Bengal has stalled for the past few days because of a protest by owners of six-wheeler trucks that used to transport coal.
The owners of the six-wheeler trucks have been protesting the company's decision to use only 10-wheeler trucks to transport coal and preventing the bigger lorries from plying, hitting coal supplies.
Sources said ECL supplied around 12,000 tonnes of coal a day to power plants. The protests at Salanpur area have hit coal supplies to the units of Power Development Corporation Limited (PDCL), Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) and Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC).
"We usually transport three rakes of coal - each carrying 3,500 tonnes - to different power plants in Bengal from the four mines of Salanpur area. But the supplies have taken a hit since November 3. The power companies have been repeatedly urging us to supply coal but we are helpless as the six-wheeler truck owners have been preventing the transport of coal in bigger lorries," said Niladri Roy, director (technical) of ECL.
ECL had last month issued a notice on the directive of the Union ministry of environment saying it would transport coal from the mines to railway sidings only in 10-wheeler trucks to reduce vehicular pollution.
"The 10-wheeler trucks are bigger in size and can carry more coal than the six-wheeler ones. It will help us bring down the number of trucks we use daily and minimise pollution," said Roy.
ECL has lodged a police complaint against the truck owners who have been preventing the transport of coal in the 10-wheeler dumpers.
Local Trinamul MLA Bidhan Upadhyay said he had called a meeting with the truck owners on Tuesday to sort out the crisis.
A power department official said: "There is always a stock of coal, enough for several days. The power demand right now is not very high because of the pleasant weather. At the moment, there is no crisis."
(Source: https://www.telegraphindia.com/)