Indian coal unions withdraw strike notice

Indian coal workers' unions have withdrawn a notice for a one-day strike on 18 August following the federal government's decision to delay the auction process for commercial coal mining. The unions have been opposing the auction because it will open up the industry, currently restricted to state-controlled mining firms, to the private sector.

India delayed the auction of commercial mining coal blocks by more than a month following requests from potential investors, as the rapid increase in Covid-19 cases in the country continued to dampen investor sentiment.

The due date for the submission of bids has been revised to 29 September from 18 August. The strike was supposed to coincide with the closing date. "The unions will decide on another date to organise the strike closer to the auction date," a union leader told Argus.

The unions had also organised a three-day strike earlier in July to oppose the auction. State-controlled producer Coal India (CIL) as a result lost 56pc of its output, although more than a third of CIL's employees turned up for work.

The unions had also planned to follow a work-to-rule policy for 17 days from 1 August. This was observed for the first 10 days of the month but was stopped with the decision to delay the auction, the union leader said.

A work-to-rule slows down operations because workers insist on adhering to all their defined rules while performing duties. At an open-cast mine, for example, it is mandatory to spray water to settle airborne dust after every 30 minutes of operations, although this is not always strictly followed.

India launched the auction on 18 June to seek bids from private-sector companies for 41 coal blocks offered in a first round of bidding. The coal blocks have combined peak production capacity of 225mn t/yr and are part of the government's broader plans to reduce coal imports.

But growing opposition from some provincial governments forced it to remove a few coal blocks that are located in ecologically sensitive areas. The ministry has agreed to replace five blocks in the central state of Chhattisgarh with three other blocks in the state. It has also withdrawn a block in the western state of Maharashtra as the mine is near a tiger reserve.

By Ajay Modi