Maoists cause coal production loss: Coal minister
Maoists control swathes of mineral-rich areas and have attacked railway lines and factories, aiming to cripple economic activity.
State-run Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL) lost 1.126 million tonnes of coal production from April to June due to Maoist activities, coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said in a written reply to the Parliament on Wednesday.This was almost the same as the 1.15 million tonnes lost in 200910. Maoist actions, including threats to the workforce, have affected CCL's production in Jharkhand, Jaiswal said in his reply.Last month, Jaiswal said that coal production could rise by at least 25% if law and order were improved. Maoists control swathes of mineral-rich areas and have attacked railway lines and factories, aiming to cripple economic activity.CCL is a unit of the state-run Coal India Ltd, the country's monopoly coal producer.In the 2009-10 fiscal year, India produced 531 million tonnes of coal, up from 492.95 million tonnes in the previous year, government data shows, although the amount still fell short of demand.