The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Monday blamed the Centre for not taking any effort to settle the strike by the 13,000 contract workers of the Neyveli Lignite Corportion (NLC) for the last 31 days, which had affected power generation at its thermal units and lignite mining.
Raising the issue during zero hour in the Lok Sabha, DMK parliamentary party leader T.R. Baalu claimed that the intensity of the agitation was increasing by the day.
“Even in this grave situation, the government is not at all ready to make an effort to see that the problem is settled quickly.”
Stating that the employees were fighting for their lawful rights, he said if the accumulated earth, the overburdens of the mining area, was not removed in time, it would be disastrous.
Mining would come to a grinding halt. But neither the NLC management nor the Centre had come forward to settle the issue amicably.
The mining production, which was normally 45,000 tonnes per day, had come down to 9,000 tonnes now and the power generation nosedived from 2,490 MW to 1,690 MW, he said.
