Contract workers engaged in overburden removal and other tasks in various coal mines of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) in Kothagudem region launched a strike on Wednesday in pursuit of their demands including regularisation of their services and hike in their wages.
Scores of contract workers owing allegiance to the Joint Action Committee staged a dharna in front of the Jawaharkhani-5 Opencast Project in Yellendu in protest against the alleged inordinate delay in implementation of the recommendations made by the Joint Bipartite Committee for the Coal Industry (JBCCI).
The police detained the protesters and let them off later in the day.
The contract workers took out a huge rally from the SCCL head office to the bus stand in Kothagudem town to press for their charter of demands such as regularisation of their services and provision of social security benefits.
The local leaders of the Singareni Collieries Workers Union, affiliated to the AITUC, and various other trade unions also participated in the rally expressing their solidarity with the striking contract workers.
The contract workers’ strike has affected housekeeping and sanitation activities in the company across the Kothagudem region, sources said.
Sources in the SCCL insisted that the strike had minimal impact on the overburden removal work in OCPs in Kothagudem region on the first day on Wednesday.
However, the sources admitted that the strike may indirectly affect the coal production in the OCPs at the current peak production season if it continued for a long period.
