India: CIL Board Meeting reschedule in View of Official Strike

CIL board meeting which was scheduled for 13 Mar, 2014 has been postponed owing to three days strike called by CIL officials as the HR and other functional directors of PSU will be busy in monitoring the situation.

The board meeting is likely to deliberate on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) which is expected to clear the policy of PPP model for the Coal mining. The meeting has been rescheduled to 20 Mar, 2014.

CIL executives are going ahead with the proposed strike from 13 Mar, 2014 because of management’s inability to offer any assurance on the demand for a wage hike.

The Coal Mines Officers’ Association of India had served a strike notice in February, demanding implementation of a variable pay system which was announced earlier.

CIL strike may hit Coal Production

Coal India’s executives strike may resist Coal production. During the 1st 11 months of fiscal year, CIL has achieved 95% of its production target and produced total around 409 MnT Coal, while its target for the same period was 429.3 MnT.

The miner’s production usually peaks in March with a daily output of 1.2-1.3 MnT.

The miner is already facing a shortfall of 8-10 MnT from its annual target.

CIL strike hit Power Output

CIL strike likely to impact about 40% of power generation in south India. However, most of the thermal plants in the country have sufficient stocks, which would be adequate for at least two weeks.

Meanwhile, the strike may hit power supply and the power stations like Badarpur (Delhi), Unchahar (UP), Simhadri (AP) and others, based on Coal are in concern that they may face problems to stock piles in last few days”, said NTPC official.

Some of the plants having only stock for three days and few of these may have to shut down or scale down their generation to avoid a total shutdown during the strike.