Signature drive on joblessness in mines

KOIDA (SUNDARGARH): A whopping 2,000 contract workers and unspecified number of indirect workers have been rendered jobless after four mines in Koida Mining Circle (KMC) of Sundargarh district were closed for failing to comply with the Supreme Court guidelines to pay compensation for illegal mining. 

On Thursday, villagers of Koida block submitted a memorandum to Deputy Director of Mines (DDM) Salil Behera demanding restoration of jobs to the workers. On the other hand, the Sundargarh unit of CPM and its labour arm CITU have announced to launch a signature campaign to mobilise opinion in favour of the affected workers from Friday.

Mining department sources informed that the mine of National Enterprises (NE) at Raikela with production capacity of Five lakh tonnes was closed for failing to pay nearly `400 crore. Similarly, the mines of Korp Resources (KR) at Tantra with production capacity of 1.20 lakh tonnes was shut down for failing to pay `17 crore as compensation.

The mines of Essels Mining and Industries Ltd at Koida with capacity of four million tonnes and Odisha Manganese & Minerals (OMM) Ltd at Patmunda having capacity of 1.83 lakh tonnes were closed after they failed to pay compensation in Keonjhar district.