Soaring temperatures in Orissa have led to a decline in coal mining activity in the state as the government wants to give the workers a reprieve from the sweltering heat.
With the mercury crossing the 45-degree-Celsius mark, the state government has ordered that mining operations in the Mahanadi Coalfields, which comprise IB valley and Talcher coalfields, be stopped between 11.30 am and 5 pm. This will result in a fall in coal production, due to which the railways is already losing 12 rakes (around 48,000 tonne of coal loading) every day.
Coal is the major revenue earner for the railways as 42% of its total freight earnings come from the fossil fuel. ?Coal loading has come down as there’s a ban on mining in Orrisa during the day time due to harsh weather. Usually, we load around 200 rakes (trains) in a day. The number has come down to 188 rakes,? a railway official said. One rake, consisting of 59 wagons, carries approximately 4,000 tonne of coal
The ban on mining has been in effect since April 15 and would stay till the arrival of the monsoon, which is expected to reach Orrisa by June 15. The railways is expecting to lose 2.8 lakh tonne of coal loading over the period.
?The humidity level is very high and it becomes impossible for mining workers to work in such inhumane conditions. More than half of the first shift is not operational. We are losing nearly one-sixth of our production everyday,? a Mahanadi coalfields official said.
The national transporter has a coal loading target of over 500 million tonne for this financial year. In April, the railways generated R3,420.74 crore from transporting 42.96 million tonne of coal, followed by R604.13 crore from 8.90 million tonne of iron ore for exports, steel plants and domestic use.