Coal dispatch from the Talcher coalfields to power stations in and outside the state has been paralyzed due to indefinite blockade of railway tracks by the local residents since Thursday. Not only transport of coal was stopped, the agitating people have also stopped all the seven coalmines at Talcher from Friday.
Banks were closed for the last two days, while local courts remained closed as lawyers also joined them by boycotting the courts. Local people under the banner of the Talcher Rail Users Samiti have resorted to rail roko agitation at the local station blocking coal dispatch since Thursday.
Mr BK Rout assistant regional manager of railways said that “The railways is incurring a daily loss of about INR 5 crore due to the blockade.”
As coal transport has been stopped due to rail roko agitation, the station has become highly congested with rakes. He said that “We are getting distress calls from power plants and other coal consumers from both within the state and outside it. Power plants from across the country are asking for coal to run their power plants. But, we are helpless.”
In another development, the Mahanadi Coalfield Limited has been hit due to closing of coalmines by the agitating local residents. Mr AK Singh director of Mahanadi Coalfields said that “We are losing about 200,000 tonnes of coal per day due to the ongoing strike.”
Massive police deployment has been made at Talcher to prevent any untoward incident. Agitation against the railways is nothing new here. Earlier, there were incidents of blocking coal dispatch.
Local MLA B.K. Pradhan said that “Talcher has long remained neglected by the railway ministry. When it earns a revenue of INR 5 crore from coal freight from Talc her everyday, it does not make any provision for halt of long distance trains here, which are plying on Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur route.”
Dhenkanal MP Tathagat Satpathy also extended his support to the movement promising to raise the issue in the Parliament during rail budget debate. The rail blockade at Talcher has created an unprecedented coal crisis.
(Sourced from Telegraph India)
