A dispute with land owners in the Mahanadi Coalfields (MCL) area has given rise to closure of mines one after another and some mines with less production are going to be closed soon.
Similarly, Lajkura and Samleshwary opencast mines of Ib Valley Area and Lakhanpur opencast under Lakhanpur Area of MCL are counting their days for closure due to no land for mines further.
Production in some open cast mines under Ib Coal Fields Ltd has been seriously affected due to long standing dispute with the land owners.
Lakhanpur Area mines need to supply coal to Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) to keep it functioning. But, due to decrease in production regularly, OPGC is going to close its two units shortly. Second power generation unit of OPGC on Sunday night was shut down due to shortage of coal.OPGC sources said that out of its four running units, two are old and two new.
According to Deputy General Manager( HR and Admn, OPGC Dilip Kumar Panda said the MCL is supplying only 14,000 tonne of coal per day against actual requirements of 24,000 tonne of coal from Lakhanpur Area of MCL. Due to short supply of coal, it has become impossible to run all four power generation units of OPGC.
Besides, the existing earlier stock of coal has also been exhausted by running these units.
Due to shortage of coal, Unit 2 has been closed from 12.17 am on Sunday. If this trend continues, more units may be closed in the coming days,Panda said.
Requesting anonymity, one OPGC officer said that OCPL Manoharpur Coal block in Sundargarh district is not able to supply coal to OPGC through MCL due to no rail route to the destination. It is said that rail route has been almost completed leaving aside only 1.7 km, which will also be completed, after it is handed over to OPGC for railway line by MCL authorities.
Ubuda villagers of Lakhanpur are not allowing over -burden (OB) removal since last few days due to non-fulfillment of their demands like job guarantee for their future generations. That apart, demands like job opportunities for those not sacrificing land cannot be fulfilled by MCL authorities.
Due to non-production of required quantity of coal, daily production of mines in Lakhanpur area has come down to 30,000 tonne per day as against 65,000 tonnes of coal as earlier. If the land is not handed over soon to MCL authorities, production will be drastically affected.
MCL PRO Vinayak Jamwal said that as regards 1.7 km land of Manoharpur coal block under Sundargarh district, the acquisition process is in full swing and as soon as possible after necessary clearance, MCL would be transferred the land for railway line.
