Production resumed at Talcher coalfields of Coal India in Odisha from Thursday evening, as villagers called off a strike following assurance on job offers.
Production was stalled at the 70-million-tonne coalfield since May 6 in protest against CIL’s decision to withdraw job offers to villagers of Bhalugadia in the de-allocated Gopal Prasad West coal block.
The Gopal Prasad West captive block was created by bifurcating the Gopal Prasad block of CIL in 2005. Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd was offered a 60 per cent stake in the captive block in a joint venture with other private sector companies.
Accordingly, CIL acquired land against job offers for both the captive as well as own block. Villagers having contiguous land assets on both the blocks were prime beneficiary. Following de-allocation of the captive block by Supreme Court in 2014, CIL withdrew job offers against the land acquired for the captive block, triggering widespread protests.