The 72-hour strike by the coal workers of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) against the Centre's move to allow private sector in commercial coal mining ended on Saturday, crippling coal production in the last three days.
The three-day strike spearheaded by the central trade unions of the Coal India Limited (CIL) resulted in a production loss to the tune of about 3 lakh tonnes in all the 46 mines of the SCCL spanning across the coal belt region of the State, sources said.
The coal workers cutting across trade union affiliations exhibited their collective strength by actively participating in the strike in all the 11 coal mining areas of the SCCL.
Demonstration
The trade unions of the Singareni coal fields, those affiliated to the CITU, the AITUC, the INTUC, the BMS and other central trade unions, staged a demonstration in front of the SCCL’s head office in Kothagudem late on Saturday afternoon.
Addressing the demonstration, the leaders of the SCEU general secretary M Narasimha Rao said the entire workforce of the SCCL showed a firm resolve to fight against privatisation by making the three-day strike a grand success.
Though the TRS-affiliated TBGKS has participated in the strike only on the first day, an overwhelming majority of the workers across the coal belt region spearheaded the 72-hour strike with a missionary zeal to save Singareni from the looming threat of privatisation, he said. We will undertake intensive agitations if the Centre fails to drop its move to auction the coal blocks, Mr Rao said.
