Mahanadi Coalfields today suffered a production loss of one lakh tonnes of the dry fuel as mining operations at its two projects came to a halt following protests by some villagers in Odisha, the company said.
The production loss comes at a time when the country is facing acute coal shortages.
"MCL faces loss of one lakh tonnes coal production today as mining operations at two projects of this Coal India subsidiary came to a grinding halt following the protest by villagers in Angul district of Odisha," a spokesperson of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) said.
Mining activities at Ananta and Bhubaneswari open cast projects were stopped from first shift at 05.05 hours from today as workers were not allowed to report to duty by protesters, the spokesperson added.
MCL had earlier terminated services of 126 employees, who were provided jobs against acquisition of their land in Hensmul village near Bhubaneswari Opencast mine in Odisha, after they continued to obstruct mining operations.
The terminated employees were protesting to press for the demand that they be re-instated and relocated to a place in coal bearing area, the spokesperson said.
MCL is the youngest but the second highest coal producing subsidiary of CIL. Its about 60 per cent production comes from the mines in the Talcher Coalfields, the largest coalfields in India.
The company, which was carved out of Coal India arms SECL and CCL in 1993, has 22,278-strong workforce as of date.
