The workers, employees and officers of the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) have decided to donate their day’s salary totalling to ₹8.5 crore to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) as their contribution to the measures being taken by the State government against the spread of coronavirus.
According to the company officials, about 2,400 officers and other employees have pledged their day’s salary, including basic and dearness allowance, amounting to nearly ₹ 1 crore and about 47,000 workers offered their day’s basic and dearness allowance totalling to ₹7.5 crore to the CMRF.
Complimenting the employees’ humane gesture, Chairman and Managing Director of SCCL N. Sridhar stated that the government had listed coal production and despatches as an essential service as the fossil fuel is the main raw material for power generation in several power stations in southern States. Accordingly, the workers were engaged in coal production in three shifts by taking all necessary safety precautions to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Besides, the company management was also taking measures to prevent spread of infectious disease in all its mines, workers’ colonies and hospitals.
CPI plea
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (CPI) has requested the State government to announce lockdown in the underground mines of Singareni to prevent the spread of coronavirus. In a letter addressed to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday, CPI State secretary Chada Venkat Reddy said the State government responded seriously and positively to prevent the spread of the diseases by implementing lockdown in most of the government departments except those engaged in essential services.
Stating that underground mines would have poor ventilation and the workers would be required to engage in work closely, the CPI leader said the workers said a large number of works would use man-riding lifts and transport vehicles and any infectious worker unaware of his infection could transmit the disease to his co-workers as they work in closed atmosphere. Every mine would have 500 to 1,500 workers besides supervisors and others.
Since coal requirement by other industries has come down, the production could be purely used for power generation by engaging only 10% of its workforce at a time, on turn basis, he suggested. Singareni has a total of 27 underground mines out of its 45 functional mines.
