Strike stalls coal loading at Haldia port

A strike by contract labourers demanding a “longstanding” increase in their wages has stalled loading of coal onto ships at Haldia port since July 1.

While leaders of a Trinamul Congress-backed trade union are insisting that the strike is wage-based, port sources claimed the impasse was created deliberately by the ruling party to thwart the loading by Prabha Utility Services, a firm based in Gujarat’s Vadodara.

It had won the contract for the loading over Sibdurga Visvakarma Engineering, a Haldia-based firm reportedly close to local Trinamul leaders. Sibdurga had won the contract in the two previous years.

The sources said 20 labourers, who handled a conveyor belt that loaded coal onto ships, had announced the strike during the changeover to the new contractor on July 1.