Locals of Talcher have expressed strong resentments as the demand for establishment of another subsidiary of the Coal India Limited (CIL) for Talcher coalfield has not been taken into consideration by the Ministry of Coal for long.

The demand has emerged in view of the MCL’s production reaching record levels and resettlement and rehabilitation of affected families emerging as a major issue in the locality. 

According to information, the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, a CIL subsidiary operational in Odisha, had achieved a record production of more than 143 million tonnes during the last year, 2017-18. In view of this, the Ministry of Coal had decided to allot four coalmines namely Rampia, Dipside of Rampia, Ghogarpali and Dip extension of Ghogarpali to the Western Coalfields Ltd, another subsidiary of the CIL based at Nagpur.

In relation to this proposal, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had on April 12, 2018 written to Union Coal Minister Piyush Goyal suggesting that the CIL create another subsidiary for the Talcher Coalfield with a more focused approached towards rehabilitation and resettlement of project affected families in coordination with the local administration.

Though almost four months have passed, no such decision has been taken by the Union Government. Locals have now demanded that the State Government take necessary steps so that the CIL set up a subsidiary for the Talcher coalfield and they would not suffer anyway and legal complications would not arise.