Election fever has gripped the entire coal belt region, spread over six districts Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Khammam, Jayashankar-Bhupalapalli, Peddapalli-Ramagundam, Mancherial and Kumram Bheem-Asifabad, as the voting for the high-stakes Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) recognised union election is slated for Thursday.
Close to 52,534 SCCL employees, including coal workers those covered under the National Coal Wage Agreement (NCWA), are expected to cast their votes in Thursday’s election at 92 polling booths in 11 areas spread across the six districts.
There are 15 trade unions contesting the election, which is sixth since the recognised union election was first held in SCCL in 1998.
Voting would be conducted from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and counting would begin the same day by around 9 p.m. The results are likely to be out by Thursday night, sources said.
Keen tussle
The ruling TRS-affiliated Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS) and the AITUC-affiliated Singareni Collieries Workers Union (SCWU) are locked in a keen tussle. The CITU-affiliated Singareni Collieries Employees Union (SCEU) is one among the major trade unions in the fray.
In an effort to retain the SCCL recognised union status for a second term, the ruling party-backed TBGKS took up an intensive campaign involving several ministers, MLAs and MPs including Nizamabad MP K. Kavitha.
Having represented the SCCL recognised union thrice in the past, the SCWU, backed by the trade unions affiliated to the CPI, the Congress and the TDP, conducted a fortnight-long whirlwind electioneering.
The Telangana Telugu Desam Party state president L. Ramana said in Adilabad on Wednesday that so much money was pumped into the campaigning for a trade union elections as was done by the TRS and its affiliated TBGKS and termed it a moral victory for the AITUC.
Police have made tight security arrangements to prevent untoward incidents during the polling in the entire coal belt zone.Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC will be imposed in the vicinity of the polling stations to ensure a free and fair election. The senior officials of the Labour Department have been deputed to closely monitor the smooth conduct of the election.
Ramagundam Commissioner of Police Vikram Jeet Duggal said that they had constituted static pickets, striking forces, patrolling parties and special striking forces to ensure smooth conduct of polling in the coal belt region of both Peddapalli and Mancherial districts. A total of 57 polling booths were opened to ensure a total of 35,000 odd coal miners to cast their votes in Peddapalli and Mancherial districts, he stated.
He said that they made adequate security for polling and counting of votes.
(With inputs from K. M. Dayashankar in Peddapalli and S. Harpal Singh in Adilabad)
