About 30 miners of Singareni Collieries on Tuesday began work in the opencast mines I and III in Godavarikhani area of Karimnagar district, achieving production of 10,000 tonnes during the day.
The Singareni management as also the government were upbeat that the miners had joined duty despite attempts by agitators to prevent them from going into the mines where the activity is highly mechanised. Some persons, however, burnt down a conveyor belt at these mines on Monday night but the facility was restored through some alternative arrangement.
Mining activity
This was the first time that mining activity was started in Karimnagar district after commencement of the ‘Sakala Janula Samme' (general strike).
The other mines in Karimnagar and elsewhere in Warangal and Adilabad districts, however, remained closed as the miners are still abstaining from work. Nearly 300 outsourced employees are attending to work in these three districts, removing overburden in the mines. The overall Singareni production exceeded 63,000 tonnes, including 53,000 tonnes in Khammam district.
Transco upbeat
Meanwhile, there was some cause for cheer in the power sector as the electricity generation in the NTPC's Ramagundam unit rose to 2,400 MW— 90 per cent of the plant's capacity. As a result, Andhra Pradesh began getting its full share of 700 MW.
AP Transco MD Ajay Jain, however, ruled out the possibility of relaxing the power cuts at this juncture.
He said a 500-MW unit at Kothagudem was shut down following boiler tube-leak, ironically when sufficient coal stocks were available. AP Genco did not want to revive the 500-MW Bhoopalapalli station now.
Meanwhile, APTransco supplied 229 million units on Tuesday as against an overall demand of 263 mu, leaving a shortfall of 34 mu.
