Ahead of the three-day nationwide strike against commercial mining called from July 2-4, Dhanbad was Monday witness to supporters and opponents of the issue, holding meetings around the city to express their opinion.

While Dhanbad MP P.N. Singh addressed a press conference at the BJP district office on J.C. Mallick Road to explain the benefits of commercial mining, trade union leaders under the joint banner of all five trade unions, including Indian National Trade Union Congress (Intuc), Central Industrial Trade Union (Citu), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) held a meeting to discuss the strike planned in all the collieries of the district.

At the BJP party office, Singh said, “Commercial mining will lead to increase in coal production, decreasing the dependence of nation on coal import while simultaneously improving productivity with the use of high-end equipment and latest technology.”

Dhandbad MP P.N. Singh speaks at the district BJP office in Dhanbad on Monday, June 22, 2020 Gautam Dey

“Economic investment in the coal sector will help improve the nation’s economy and also generate direct and indirect employment opportunities as more companies will be a part of the coal sector” Singh added.

Allaying the apprehensions regarding revenue loss to the state government, Singh said, “After the auction of coal blocks, only the state government will be benefitted as entire revenue from the auction will go to it”.

“The governments of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are expected to get a minimum revenue of around Rs 20,000 crore due to auction of coal blocks,” the Dhanbad MP said.

Meanwhile, at the three-hour-long trade union meet held under the chairmanship of North Tisra Unit president of Bihar Colliery Kamgar Union (BCKU) affiliated to Citu, in presence of various veteran leaders, including national vice-president of Intuc A.K. Jha, former Citu national general-secretary S.K. Baxi and general secretary of Dhanbad Colliery Karmachari Sangh K.P. Gupta, the union decided to carry out campaigning in support of the proposed strike by holding colliery-level meetings for the next two days.

“The strike will be held in its totality across the coal sector as it is related our existence and as commercial mining will lead to entry of private players, who will carry out mining in violation of laid norms only with the aim of minting money and exploiting and oppressing workers,” said Jha.

The central government had last month given a green signal to commercial coal mining in the nation.

Ahead of the three-day nationwide strike against commercial mining called from July 2-4, Dhanbad was Monday witness to supporters and opponents of the issue, holding meetings around the city to express their opinion.

While Dhanbad MP P.N. Singh addressed a press conference at the BJP district office on J.C. Mallick Road to explain the benefits of commercial mining, trade union leaders under the joint banner of all five trade unions, including Indian National Trade Union Congress (Intuc), Central Industrial Trade Union (Citu), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) held a meeting to discuss the strike planned in all the collieries of the district.

At the BJP party office, Singh said, “Commercial mining will lead to increase in coal production, decreasing the dependence of nation on coal import while simultaneously improving productivity with the use of high-end equipment and latest technology.”

“Economic investment in the coal sector will help improve the nation’s economy and also generate direct and indirect employment opportunities as more companies will be a part of the coal sector” Singh added.

Allaying the apprehensions regarding revenue loss to the state government, Singh said, “After the auction of coal blocks, only the state government will be benefitted as entire revenue from the auction will go to it”.

“The governments of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are expected to get a minimum revenue of around Rs 20,000 crore due to auction of coal blocks,” the Dhanbad MP said.

Meanwhile, at the three-hour-long trade union meet held under the chairmanship of North Tisra Unit president of Bihar Colliery Kamgar Union (BCKU) affiliated to Citu, in presence of various veteran leaders, including national vice-president of Intuc A.K. Jha, former Citu national general-secretary S.K. Baxi and general secretary of Dhanbad Colliery Karmachari Sangh K.P. Gupta, the union decided to carry out campaigning in support of the proposed strike by holding colliery-level meetings for the next two days.

“The strike will be held in its totality across the coal sector as it is related our existence and as commercial mining will lead to entry of private players, who will carry out mining in violation of laid norms only with the aim of minting money and exploiting and oppressing workers,” said Jha.

The central government had last month given a green signal to commercial coal mining in the nation.