Plight of workers

Miners carrying coal inside an underground tunnel of a mine owned by Singareni Collieries Company Limited at Godavarikhani, some 250 km east of Hyderabad.-NOAH SEELAM/AFP

The human costs of becoming profitable are enormous for a Maharatna company trying to increase productivity.

According to D.D. Ramanandan, president of the National Coal Organisation Employees Association, a large number of contractual workers are hired by private contractors. About 52 per cent of the coal is produced by about 3.5 lakh contract workers hired by various contractors to whom the work has been outsourced, he said.

Ramanandan, who has been with Coal India Limited since 1977, has seen a decline in working conditions in the post-liberalisation era. The lot of workers had improved after the nationalisation of companies in 1973. However, with liberalisation a large number of workers have been outsourced to private companies who hire them. This is a strategy to cut down on manpower costs. In 1973, Coal India was producing around 60 million tonnes of coal with 7.2 lakh workers whereas it now produces 434 million tonnes of coal with about 3.5 lakh workers, he explained. The contract workers, who work under hazardous conditions, do not enjoy any social security benefits or basic amenities such as proper housing, drinking water and education for children.

Ramanandan compares the present insecurity with the situation following nationalisation. After nationalisation, workers were granted casual leave for the first time. Service conditions, housing and sanitation had also improved substantially, he said.

In January this year, a joint tripartite committee of CIL raised the wages of workers to Rs.427 a day and made a provision for dearness allowance adjusted according to the Consumer Price Index. However, the issue of regularisation of contract workers continues to be a sticking point.

Sagnik Dutta