Coal unions to intensify stir

Coal industry unions on Thursday started a three-day strike to protest the government’s decision to allow commercial coal mining.

Spread across all the subsidiaries of the public sector miner, the strike is estimated to have hit production by around 2 million tonnes in Coal India and about 1.6 lakh tonnes in SCCL.

All five trade unions in the sector, including the RSS-backed BMS, have supported the strike, which was announced last month.

The talks with the government on Wednesday did not yield any results. The unions decided to go on with the strike after coal minister Pralhad Joshi during the talks said the government would not go back on its policy decision on commercial mining.