'DNA' Investigations: Workers lose crores, CIL is least bothered

CIL, India’s most valuable company and the world’s largest mining company, seems least bothered about its workers — the men and women toiling day and night to build the company. A few hundred labour contractors, along with CIL officials, have siphoned off almost Rs1,000 crore over the past nine years that belong to hundreds of contract workers.

Coal India Limited created history when it was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange last year, but the workers responsible for making the company what it is today are being cheated of their rights.

In the last nine years, labour contractors, in connivance with CIL officials, have siphoned off about Rs1,000 crore payable to lakhs of workers as benefits.

The average number of contract workers engaged by CIL in the last nine years is 2.5 lakh per annum. But records of the Coal Mine Provident Fund Organisation (CMPFO) reveal that only about 30,000 workers have been registered annually by the contractors for provident fund, pension and other benefits since 2000.

According to CMPFO and CIL guidelines, contractors have to contribute 13.5% of a worker’s minimum wage towards social security schemes.

By not recognising lakhs of workers, CIL helps the contractors siphon off crores of rupees that should have been paid towards the workers’ benefits every year. The Maharatna is also yet to fix the minimum wage for its contract workers.

Of its eight subsidiaries, only South Eastern Coalfields Limited has fixed the minimum wage at Rs158 a day. Going by this, a contractor is required to pay Rs21 per worker per day. But by denying this benefit to about 2 lakh workers annually, CIL management helps contractors to siphon off more than Rs120 crore.

DNA has a copy of the correspondence between CMPFO commissioner AN Bhattacharjee and all regional commissioners in July 2010, which says, “The progress in strict coverage of contract workers eligible to be covered under the CMPF and Miscellaneous Provision Act 1948 and various schemes framed thereunder is far from satisfactory.”

In the letter, the commissioner directed the regional commissioners to check the probable evasion of responsibility on the part of contractors working in the coal industry. The issue was also raised in the 151st and 152nd board meetings of the CMPFO.

Mohan Jha, a member of the board of trustees of the CMPFO, says, “Under the law, the CIL management should penalise the contractors and not release funds if they fail to register their workers. But they get their share from the contractors, and so never interfere in these things.”

Besides, as the CMPFO has just four PF inspectors for the entire coal industry — 66 posts of PF inspectors are vacant — they rarely conduct inspection. While the commissioner was not available for comment despite several visits to his office, e-mails and telephone calls, Agarwala Associates, Ashwin Traders and other contractors could not be reached.

However, R Mohan Das, director (personnel and industrial relations), CIL, said most of the workers are registered under CMPFO. “Some of the contractors have registered them (workers) under the Employees Provident Fund Organisation as well. Thus almost all of them are covered.”

According to a report from CMPFO regional offices as on March 2011 — DNA has a copy of it; see table for extracts  —  the entire Eastern coalfields Limited has no registered contract worker. But when DNA visited Jhanjhara Project of ECL, local union leaders said there are 400 contract workers, none of them registered under CMPFO.

Similarly, Western Coalfields Limited, headquartered in Nagpur, has just 735 contract workers under CMPFO. When DNA visited WCL mines in Nagpur and Chandrapur it saw thousands of contract workers toiling for 10-12 hours.

An active contract labourer in Morpar Underground Mine at Chandrapur said: “No officer comes for inspection about CMPF. Even the personal manager never listens to our grievances. If by chance somebody comes for inspection, the contractor gives leave to all proactive contract workers. Thus, we are never able to meet the officials.”

Apart from these two areas, DNA visited mines in Jharkhand and spoke to hundreds of contract workers whose future pension and provident funds have been evaded.