Shibu chairs meet of JMM colliery workers’ union

Ranchi: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) president Shibu Soren on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the party’s colliery workers’ union and charted its future course of political action.
The septuagenarian Parliamentarian, who has passed over the mantle of JMM’s leadership to his son Hemant, largely remains confined behind the walls of his government mansion in Morhabadi because of his health. However, Tuesday was a rare occasion when he chaired the Jharkhand Colliery Mazdoor Union’s (JCMU) meeting in the capacity of its president.
Even though he made occasional public appearances, Shibu last chaired a meeting in March 2020 when the JMM’s central working committee met to analyse its performance in the 2019 state assembly polls.
Party sources said Shibu is looking at strengthening the JCMU’s organizational structure and breathe new life into it. Even though JCMU held considerable sway over the workers of Coal India Limited’s subsidiaries operating in Jharkhand, its presence is on the wane in recent years.
In its meeting, JCMU condemned the Centre’s move to open the coal sector for commercial mining. It also passed a resolution demanding that the CIL subsidiaries functional in Jharkhand must compensate the displaced families as per the 2013 land acquisition laws of the Centre and provide compensation which is four times the current valuation of their land.
“The JCMU will strengthen its presence in coming days and fight in the interests of the coal workers,” the resolution read.
Recently, JCMU suffered a hit after its incumbent vice-president Mathura Prasad Mahto, who is also the Tundi MLA, and several office-bearers accepted posts in different coal workers’ unions without prior approval of the party. JMM had sent show-cause notices to Mahto and all other JCMU office bearers in connection with the issue.
JCMU secretary Vinod Kumar Pandey said, “Mathura Mahto has submitted his reply and a decision on it is pending with the president. The other office bearers are also sending their responses.”