Coal India on Wednesday said a memorandum of understanding has been inked with the four central trade unions on January 3, recommending a 19 per cent minimum guaranteed benefits to its 2.38 lakh employees as part of the ongoing National Coal Wage Agreement - XI.

The minimum guaranteed benefit of 19 per cent is on emoluments as of June 30, 2021, which includes basic pay, variable dearness allowance, special dearness allowance and attendance bonus.

Telangana-based Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is also a signatory to the memorandum of understanding, which means a total of around 2.82 lakh employees of both the state-owned coal entities who were on rolls as of July 1, 2021, would be beneficiaries.

Coal India in a statement on Wednesday said the recommendation was reached at the eighth meeting of the Joint Bipartite Committee for the Coal Industry — XI held at Coal India’s corporate headquarters in Calcutta on Tuesday.

A formal pact for the NCWA — XI, effective from July 1 2021, for a period of 5 years, would be finalised after deliberations on remaining issues other than the minimum guaranteed benefits are concluded.

CERC relief

Power regulator Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has decided to fully compensate the power producers running imported coal-based plants for higher running costs required for supplying electricity under forced circumstances.

The CERC order will come as a relief for imported coalbased power plants which ran to full capacity under the directions of the ministry of power for meeting demand.