‘To profit from competition’, CIL reaches out to unions

NEW DELHI: Deregulation of commercial coal mining will be an opportunity rather than a challenge for Coal India, the company management told trade unions on Sunday as it began work on a blueprint to consolidate its leadership position ahead of impending competition from private players.

The company management met representatives of trade unions BMS, AITUC, CITU and HMS — representing CIL’s three lakh-strong workforce — to clear misgivings over the impact of the government’s decision to allow private companies into commercial mining.

The management, represented by CIL acting chairman Gopal Singh and CMDs of all subsidiaries, said questions over CIL’s future were raised even when private sector was allowed into captive mining. But the “CIL family” rose to the occasion and the company grew in terms of both production and profit.

Already, CIL is despatching 7% more coal than it did a year ago, loading 308-310 rakes per day to wheel 1.8 million tonnes (mt) of the fuel daily. Production has risen to 2 mt a day and is set to rise to 2.5 mt in the remaining days of March.

The unions at a separate meeting late in the evening decided to hold a day’s token strike on April 16, instead of in March as demanded by one section, to highlight their concerns.

“We did not want to hurt CIL’s interest as March is crucial for its performance. But we have our concerns and want to highlight them to the government,” Basant Ray of BMS told TOI.

Coal India Ltd