Mining resumes in MCL

Bhubaneswar: Mining operations at Mahanadi Coalfield's (MCL) Jagannath area in Talcher belt of the State today resumed after being disrupted for nearly four days due to road blockade by local villagers.

Mining operations as well as coal supply to different power plants from MCL's Jagannath area in Angul district resumed following intervention by district administration last evening, MCL officials said.

"Complete normalcy has been restored in Jagannath coal mine area of MCL today. Production, transportation and supply activities are going on as usual," they said.

Regarding loss caused by the road blockade, they said loss in coal production was to the tune of 1.55 lakh tonne, while over burden removal (OBR) loss was of the order of 1.78 lakh tonne.

Similarly, coal dispatch to consumers suffered a loss of about 1.98 lakh tonne, they said.

The coal supply from Jagannath area had been reduced by around 50 per cent due to the blockade launched on April 7 evening by locals demanding drinking water, health, plantation and other basic facilities in the project affected areas.

MCL's Jagannath area comprises three projects -- Bhubaneswari OCP (Open Cast Project), Ananta OCP and Jagannath Colliery -- which together contribute 35 per cent of the total coal production of the company.

The MCL had produced over 121 million tonnes (MT) coal during the last financial year, they said.

Dispatch of coal from 25 MT Bhubneswari OCP and 10 MT Ananta OCP had been severely affected after residents of Dera village blocked road and stopped transportation on April 7 evening, they added.