Singareni stir hits work

The strike call given by the non-INTUC unions, including AITUC and CITU demanding wage revision in Singareni Collieries has its fallout with more than 75 per cent of the 46,000-strong workforce abstaining from work in the first shift on Monday.

Adilabad area of Singareni coal fields, where underground mines are more, was the worst-affected on the first day of the strike, according to information reaching here.

While the work in underground mines has come to a grinding halt, the operations in open cast mines where the coal production is largely done with the help of machines, almost remained normal, according to reports.

According to Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL)'s officials, the production on the first day of strike remained largely unaffected as the production in the open cast mines has been stepped up to around 80,000 tonnes by deploying extra showells.

"If the strike continues, then production in the open cast mines too will be affected as the removal of overburden will become a problem by then," a senior SCCL official told Business Standard.