India's largest coal mine enmeshed in political tug of war, production hit

SECL had said it would increase its annual production to 250 million tonne in 2019-20 as its contribution to the 1 billion tonne target of Coal India

Korba coalfields, one of the country’s largest cluster of coal mines, is in  a tug-of-war with one of its contractors over surplus production. The three mines – Gevra, Kusmunda and Dipka --- that form the cluster are run by South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL). The mining operations are sub-contracted to Sainik Mining and Allied Services Limited, which wants to be paid extra for every surplus tonne produced.

Sources said the mining contract with Sainik Mining has concluded and SECL is not willing to renew it. This has led to a logjam with Sainik Mining refusing to let go of the