West Bengal: ECL warning to cut off power supply creates stir in residential quarters

Asansol— Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), a subsidiary of Coal India, provides free electricity to employees living in its residential quarters. The cost of providing this [free] electricity is now being viewed as a problem for ECL, which has been continuously reporting losses. The ECL management has decided to disconnect the power supply to all the vacant quarters (houses) in its residential areas. Which means that people who are living unofficially in the company's quarters, that is, those who are not employed by ECL, will no longer have an electric connection in their house.

Worry among people, not ECL employees

May we remind you that ECL is a major coal production company in eastern India? It has 11 operating areas in West Bengal and three in Jharkhand. Also, in West Bengal, two collieries are in Purulia district, one is in Bankura and the rest are located in Paschim Bardhaman district. This is not the first time ECL has issued a notice asking residents to vacate the occupied quarters. In fact it has issued notices many times. But this time in the notice, the company has appealed to the local bodies for support so that the electric supply to the illegally occupied quarters in the various collieries in the 14 operating areas of ​​ECL can be cut off in the month of August.

After seeing the notice issued by ECL, the fear of having to vacate their house has once again filled the mind of almost everyone. Even before this, whenever the notice used to come, it would be worrisome for the general public. ECL's older collieries have been gradually shut down due to various reasons. The residential quarters associated with these closed collieries were not asked to be vacated, due to which the residents living here have become local people. To the extent that people's ID cards have been made based on their [living in that] same area. Ritu is one such woman. Who has been living in an ECL quarter for a long time? She says, "Nobody used to work in my house. My husband used to be a daily labourer. Now he has passed away. My son is a driver. I myself work in someone's house. Somehow the household expenses are being met. My granddaughters study here in the ECL government school. In this situation how does one just vacate the quarters? We don't have any land. Where we can go to build a home? When the power supply is cut, we will live in the dark. There are thousands of people working as daily wage labourers in the different operating areas of ECL."

There are also some people who retired in recent years and did not vacate their houses. One person, on the condition of anonymity, said that their mother had retired six years ago and about six months after retirement, she passed away. At that time, they weren't able to claim all their mother's retirement pay out. In these circumstances, they did not vacate the quarters. Presently they are living in the same house. They tell us that they have also given money to the ECL people to let them live the quarters, and who have also given them documentary evidence. Which he will show on the day when he is asked to vacate the quarters.

Families settled here since long time

Regarding the news of the cut to the power supply, Gurmukh Singh says, "My father had come here from Punjab on a job. After my father's retirement, our entire family settled here. Everyone was married here too. Our children have also grown up here. The third generation of our family is now living in West Bengal. We never thought that we will go back to Punjab. Despite my father's retirement, we have continued to live in the quarters. There is talk of a power cut, but let's see what happens."

Ever since ECL issued this notice, everyone has been talking about it, in suppressed tones but nonetheless. Some people say that the government should do something about this. After all, where will so many people go? Those who have money will go away. But those who live on a daily wage, what should those people do?

With the ever-increasing power load on ECL and the looming cuts to electric supply in the quarters occupied without authorization, The Mooknayak team tried to know the matter in more detail with a senior journalist from Asansol. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, they explained that the ECL is one of the oldest companies in the country. Which was earlier privately run. At the time when it used to be a private company, people from Bihar and eastern UP were housed in small rooms and made to work as labourers on a contract basis. For the convenience of these labourers, vegetable sellers, milkmen, and washermen also settled in the vicinity of the colliery and ration shops also came up. Because of this, there was a gradual increase in the population in the colliery areas.

The journalist further told us that in 1973, during Indira Gandhi's tenure, the coal mines were nationalized. Because of which the jobs of the people who had migrated from other states were made permanent. People started to live in the quarters that were built there. As families started growing, the number of jobs in ECL did not increase and those who did get the jobs also had to go through a very complicated process. Under these circumstances, those who did not get jobs at ECL started doing other work or business there itself and so continued to live there too. At the same time, people also moved into the empty quarters of the collieries that were closing down.

Today, the situation is such that in every locality, one house is of an ECL employee and five houses have people who are not ECL employees. Therefore, it will not possible to cut off the power supply. Because ECL will have to continue to provide electric supply to the one employee who lives there.

Some people are of the opinion that if ECL cuts off the power supply, then the state government will provide electricity, the journalist continues. But, as they said, how will likely will this happen? Since the living quarters are on ECL land, people will have to obtain an NOC (No Objection Certificate) from ECL before applying for power supply from the state government. In this scenario, it will be difficult to get electricity from the state government until the ECL gives the NOC.

Following the notice issued by ECL, The Mooknayak spoke to Punyajit Bhattacharya, PRO [Public Relations Officer] at the headquarters of ECL. He said, "We do not have any specific information on the numbers of living quarters. Please contact the higher authorities on this matter."The Mooknayak attempted to contact the higher authority (GM/general manager). But there was no response from them on the matter.

यहाँ हिन्दी में भी पढ़ें– पश्चिम बंगालः ईसीएल ने बिजली काटने का दिया नोटिस, सरकारी क्वार्टरों में सालों से रह रहे अवैध कब्जेदारों में मचा हड़कंप

[Story Translated By Lotika Singha]