Tension prevailed at Gowthamkhani opencast project in Kothagudem on the second day of the ongoing strike by coal workers owing allegiance to five major trade unions on Friday when police detained a group of CPI leaders and trade union activists.
The incident sparked protests by the local CPI cadre, who staged a rasta roko at Ramavaram.
The CPI district council called a bandh in Kothagudem coal belt region on Saturday as a mark of protest against the incident.
The incident occurred when a group of CPI activists led by the party district secretary S.K. Sabir Pasha were heading towards the OCP to campaign in support of the strike by the AITUC, INTUC, CITU, BMS and HMS in pursuit of the demand for revival of the dependent employment scheme.
Police personnel deployed at the OCP prevented them from moving towards the mine and subsequently detained them before shifting them to the Two-Town Police Station when they tried to proceed ahead, sources said.
For the consecutive second day, the strike evoked a mixed response in Kothagudem region.
Its impact in Manuguru and Yellandu was minimal on Friday. However, a significant chunk of coal workers owing allegiance to the major trade unions abstained from work in GKOC and VK 7 incline in the first shift in Kothagudem area, sources added. The SCCL sources claimed that the strike had no bearing on coal production. The company management maintained that coal production in the entire Singareni collieries spread in various districts of Telangana recorded a 13% increase in the coal output more than the average daily coal production on Thursday, the first day of the strike.
In a statement, CPI district secretary Sabir Pasha alleged that the SCCL management along with the TRS-affiliated TGBKS was trying to foil the strike. “The strike will be spearheaded to its logical end unfazed by the arrests of the leaders of the trade unions and Opposition parties,” he said.
He urged all sections of people to extend their support to the three-day nation-wide strike called by the central trade unions of Coal India from June 19 in protest against the proposed merger of Coal Mines Provident Fund with the Employees’ Provident Fund and other “anti-labour” policies of the Central government.
Meanwhile, mild tension prevailed at several underground mines in Ramagundam-1 division of Singareni Collieries Company Limited when the leaders of national trade unions forced the miners to participate in the indefinite strike while the TGBKS motivated them to attend their duty on Friday.
Following mixed response to the strike, the leaders of national trade unions visited the underground mines on Friday morning to stop the coal workers from attending their duty.
Sensing trouble, police arrested AITUC leader Y. Gattaiah, HMS leader Riaz Ahmed, CITU leader Raji Reddy and a few others from GDK 5 incline and other UG mine areas. Though coal production did not meet the target at the underground mines, it was normal at the open cast projects in the Ramagundam region.
SCCL Director (Finance and PAW) Pavithran Kumar inspected the open cast projects 1 and 2 in Ramagundam-3 division and appreciated the coal miners and executives for working despite being called to take part in the strike. He said the attendance of miners had gone down, but the coal production and dispatches were not hampered. The coal production was 1.57 lakh tonnes on Friday against the normal production of 1.53 tonnes in all the Singareni mines.
Sops for miners
In the meantime, the SCCL announced ‘playday’ option to lure coal workers to attend work opposing the strike call. If a coal miner works for one day during the strike period, he would get wages for three days as part of the playday option, the sources said. The officials have also decided to begin a campaign at the miners’ colonies to educate them about the government’s commitment for the revival of dependent employment scheme.
