Coal production of two lakh tonnes amounting to about Rs 16 crore a day has been lost following the bandh call given by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) in the Singareni Collieries which is spread across Karimnagar, Adilabad, Warangal and Khammam districts.
Around 70,000-odd employees have lost total wages worth Rs 5 crore per day following the bandh. There are 42 underground mines and 16 open cast projects (OCPs) in four districts.
Telangana supporters set fire to a dumper vehicle belonging to the Open Cast Project (OCP)-3 in the Ramagundam-3 region demanding the management to observe bandh on Friday. On Thursday night, the agitators damaged eight lorries, a jeep and a car belonging to the private contractor in the coal belt region.
They also damaged a railway cabin at Laxmipur village, which monitors the track movement from OCP-2 to NTPC Ramagundam coal supply.
Since morning, coal workers abstained from duties while JAC members obstructed the administrative works at the General Manager’s office. Coal workers and all the trade union leaders participated in the bandh and went round all the 12 Underground mines and four OCPs in the region forcing the closure of all mines raising slogans of “Jai Telangana”.
Convenor of BJP Singareni struggle committee against the OCPs S Kumar said the JAC was planning to participate in an indefinite strike in all the Singareni collieries demanding the formation of Telangana state at the earliest. He said that the indefinite closure of all the mines in Singareni would affect power generation at NTPC Ramagundam, which supplies power to entire South India . Besides, the closure of mines would also cast its shadow on other auxiliary coal-based units in the state, he added.
