Talcher: In protest against the closure of the Talcher Thermal Power Station in Angul district, members of the Joint Action Committee observed a 12-hour dawnto-dusk bandh in the area Thursday.
Bandhs were observed for two days. BJD called Angul bandh Wednesday.
The MCL has incurred huge losses in two days. Reports said, due to the bandh, all operations – coal extraction and transportation from 10 MCL-owned mines were paralyzed.
Coal transportation to Nalco, NTPC and TTPS was hampered Thursday. According to reports, the demonstrators staged protests in front of mines offices and on the premises of the mines.
They forced closure of the mines’ operations. As a result, all works relating to coal extraction and transportation from 10 coal mines of the Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) at Jagannath, Lingaraj, Bhubaneswari, Bharatpur and Ananta mines came to a grinding halt.
Vehicular movement, schools, colleges and all government and private offices, remained closed across the district barring essential services.
Similarly, coal transportation through rail and road routes was also disrupted. The BJD had also observed Angul bandh Wednesday.
For the last two days of bandh, the MCL has suffered huge losses The agitating people alleged that the Union government shut it down citing violation of pollution norms of the Central Pollution Control Board(CPCB) despite its remaining functional till last before it was closed down.
They claimed that the lackadaisical attitude of TTPS authorities led to closure of the plant as the latter did not pay heed to the reminders of CPCB. It was alleged that the closure resulted in job loss for scores of people and the people dependent on it either directly or indirectly for their livelihood.
PNN