Mahanadi Coalfields to reinstate 122 employees

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, a CIL subsidiary, has agreed to take back all the 122 employees in Odisha whose services were terminated for not vacating the land in lieu of which they were given employment.

"As a goodwill gesture, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) has agreed to reinstate in service all the 122 Hensmul villagers without the pre-condition of submission of affidavit that that they will immediately vacate their dwellings," MCL said in a statement. The villagers will have to handover their land and vacate their structures by the October-end, the company said.

MCL said it has agreed to reinstate the employees without the break in service as well as rehabilitation to a new site following tripartite meetings held between its management, villagers and the district administration.

The Coal India Ltd's arm had terminated services of these employees for "violating" the terms and conditions of the appointment, on recommendations of a Odisha government panel. MCL had alleged that these employees, who were inducted in the company in lieu their land were not only "obstructing coal mining operations for their vested interests" but were not ready to vacate the land at villages Hensmul and Jalinda despite the company acquiring it way back back and recruiting them between 1995 and 2005. Mahanadi Coalfields is the youngest, but the second highest coal producing subsidiary of CIL.

About 60 per cent of its production comes from the mines in the Talcher Coalfields, the largest coalfields in India.

The company had earlier said that it has provided about 11,292 jobs to the land losers till December, 2013. Mahanadi Coalfields, which was carved out of Coal India arms SECL and CCL in 1993, has 22,278 employees as of date.