New Delhi: Around 15 railway rakes are currently stranded at two railway sidings belonging to Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), a state-owned subsidiary of Coal India Ltd (CIL), due to ongoing protests by villagers in Odisha. The protests are taking place in 14 project-affected villages in Basundhara and Mahalakshmi areas of Sundergarh district.

The villagers are demanding higher compensation and better rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) benefits. The agitation has been ongoing for 19 days as of Thursday. As a result of the protests, coal mining and dispatch operations at MCL's projects in the district have been affected.

Efforts to resolve the issue by the management have been unsuccessful, and as a consequence, coal dispatch from Sardega siding and Kanika siding has been disrupted. The 15 idle rakes used to transport approximately 45,000 tonnes of coal to power plants daily.

Due to the 19-day consecutive halt in dispatch through rail mode, more than 600,000 tonnes of coal intended for distant consumers have been affected. Production and dispatch operations at all four mines of MCL, including Basundhara West, Kulda, and Garjanbahal OCPs in the Basundhara area, and Sirarmal project in the Mahalakshmi area, were shut down from July 2 to July 9.