Strike Completes Five Days, Disrupts Ore Carriage At Keonjhar’s Balda Mines

Keonjhar: Raw material supply from Balda iron ore reserves in Joda block has been badly hit for the last five days owing to an ongoing strike by a section of local villagers in front of the main gate of the mines, throwing a spanner into the Odisha government’s efforts to boost steel production in the state.

Balda mines, which was retained by homebred Serajuddin Group in February for 50 years by depositing Rs 800 crore as advance and with a commitment to pay 118.05 per cent of the sale value of ore to the state government, provides iron ore to most of the leading steelmakers operating in the state. However, owing to the stir related to transportation issues raw material requirements of the factories are not being met, industry sources said.

“The state government gets about Rs 19 crore a day as royalty if the mines operates to capacity. The strike has resulted in loss of revenue for the government as well,” an industry insider pointed out. The local administration, however, has not succeeded in sorting out the issue between the company and the agitators, who are reportedly demanding 80 per cent of the transportation work.

Company officials said after retaining the mines the management held discussions with people of the four nearby panchayats, Balda, Kalimati, Nayagarh and Palsa, and decided to evenly distribute the transportation operations. “The whole idea was to fairly distribute the work so that the local people could earn their livelihood without suffering at the hands of intermediaries. Besides, livelihood loss of certain manual workers due to mechanisation could be compensated through transportation work,” the official explained.

However, this arrangement did not serve the interests of the mining mafia, who have a stranglehold on raising and transportation, and is believed to have sponsored a group from Balda panchayat to go on strike seeking 80 per cent of the job. The company has not acceded to this demand, terming it as “unfair”. “We hope the administration will help resolve this matter in the interests of all stakeholders,” a company official added.