By IANS,
Raipur : A week-long celebration of revolutionary week by Maoists has hit iron ore shipments of the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), India’s largest iron ore miner, in Chhattisgarh, a company official said Wednesday.
Maoists are celebrating “Jan Pituri” from June 5. Fearing attacks, the East Coast Railway has cancelled goods trains on a line between Kirandul in the state’s Dantewada district to the port city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh till June 12.
“Transportation has been hit since June 5 as rakes are not available during night. Earlier we were maintaining daily dispatches of some 56,000 tonnes from Kirandul and Bacheli mining facilities that has come down to level of nearly 36,000 tonnes a day,” a senior NMDC official told IANS.
“Only nine rakes are available compared to earlier availability of 14 rakes with each rake carrying roughly 4,000 tonnes.”
The official said the Maoist celebrations had not affected mining at NMDC facilities in Bailadila hills in Dantewada, one of India’s the worst Maoist insurgency hit districts.
The Bailadila mines produce close to 80 percent of NMDC’s total annual output that was 28.52 million tonnes in fiscal year 2008-09.