Coal trade union threatens to call pan India strike, Sriprakash Jaiswal supports agitation

Demanding direct cancellation of the licenses of the private companies suspected to be involved in huge irregularities in the allocation process of coal blocks, a trade union National Front of India Trade Unions (NFITU) has warned of a pan India coal strike from July 10.

"We will launch an agitation and go on an all-India coal strike from July 10," said president, NFITU, Deepak Jaiswal.

Meanwhile supporting the trade union's threat, Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said that the proposed strike and agitation will have full support from the Nationalist Congress Party led by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

"Our strike is against the government's move to privatise coal mines. There are huge irregularities in the allocation process and we are demanding cancellation of all the licenses," said Jaiswal.

As per Jaiswal's observation, 186 coal blocks, with an estimated coal store of 43,548.14 million tonnes, were allocated free of cost.

"If we consider the cost per tonne to be about Rs 1,000, then its total cost will be over Rs 43 lakh crore, more than any other scandal in size," he added.