KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) - Trade unions representing over 17 000 miners and workers in India’s Neyveli Lignite Company (NLC) have decided to go on an indefinite strike from July 3 to protest the Indian government’s move to divest 5% of the company’s equity to private investors.

Simultaneously, trade unions operating in Coal India Limited (CIL), and representing 350 000 miners and workers, have decided to hold consultations with the Coal Ministry on their opposition to the government’s similar plans to disinvest 10% equity in CIL to private investors.

Trade unions in CIL have kept plans for an indefinite strike from September in abeyance, preferring instead to give negotiations a chance and force the government to abandon its disinvestment plans.

Trade unions in NLC would on Tuesday be serving the mandatory strike notice to the management of the mining company. The provincial government of the southern Indian province of Tamil Nadu, where NLC is headquartered, have also come out in support of the unions’ opposition to the federal government’s disinvestment programme.

In the run-up to its proposed strike, miners and workers of NLC would resort to hunger strikes near company offices, and wear black badges to mark their opposition to equity divestment to private investors.

Trade unions in both NLC and CIL claim that by planning a fresh round of equity divestment in the coal mining companies, the government was resorting to backdoor privatisation of coal mining in the country, in violation of the coal nationalisation laws, which mandated coal mining in the country only by government companies.

NLC, which operates predominantly in southern India, has three lignite reserves, including Mine I, Mine IA and Mine II, which produce 10.5-million tonnes, three-million tonnes and 10.5-million tonnes of lignite respectively.

The company also operates three lignite-based power plants in southern India with generating capacities of 600 MW, 1 470 MW and 420 MW, respectively. CIL, the world’s largest miner accounts for over 80% of India’s domestic supplies of coal with a yearly production of 452-million tonnes.