SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Sept 28: The eyes of 2.35 lakh miners of Coal India Limited (CIL) are on the crucial meeting regarding their festival bonus which will be held today at CMPDIL premises in Ranchi.
CIL higher officials and representatives of all four national trade unions BMS, HMS, AITUC and CITU have reached Ranchi. A senior official of CIL said that if trade union leaders agreed on a bonus agreement today, the amount will be sent to the account of miners by September 30.
INTUC of Congress, which is the 5th nationally recognized union, has not been invited to the bonus meeting due to its factional feud and pending cases in the courts. However, raising its voice, INTUC has demanded a Rs 1.5 lakh bonus.
Besides 2.35 lakh employees of CIL (including Jharkhand-based BCCL, CCL and ECL), the trade union representatives are also geared up to press the demand for fixing the bonus for around 2.50 lakh contractual miners along with regular workers.
The representatives of recognized trade unions have expressed their resentment over the delay in holding the bonus meetings. “Last year, the bonus was decided and paid four days before Durga Puja festival but this year even after three days of the festival, CIL management has not fixed it,” said a Rashtriya Colliery Mazdoor Union leader.
In 2021, the CIL bonus for miners was finalized on October 4 while the Durga Puja festival started on October 11. Miners in BCCL, CCL and ECL are apprehensive that if CIL officials and trade union leaders fail to finalize the bonus amount at the Ranchi meeting today, their families’ Durga Puja festival would go without celebration.
Last year, CIL paid Rs 75,000 to the miners as a bonus. The trade union leaders are all set to put pressure on higher payment in comparison to last year’s agreement as CIL is in profit in 2021-22 financial years.
