The open mine Aamadand Coal Project of South eastern coalfields Limited (SECL), Jamuna Kotma, has been closed abruptly and now future of thousands of colliery workers is at stake. But surprisingly the district administration is not showing any reaction on this development despite the fact that this open mine is the backbone of revenue of district and thousands of locals would be without work.

The Chief Minister and Commissioner have been prrised about the plight of colliery workers. If Aamadand Open Mine Project is not started then future of the area would also be in jeopardy. It may be mentioned that from August 12, 2022, work of removal of mud from the Aamadand open mine has been stopped and from October 5, 2022, coalproduction work was also stopped.

Locals informed that some eligible farmers and some non eligible farmers were staging protest and opposing the coal digging work in the area due to their own vested interest. Initially the SECL management tried to pacify the protestors farmers but when they did not budge and SECL did not receive any help from district administration, SECL had no other option but to stop production. But now thousands of workers are without work and are facing severe financial crisis. The SECL is holding correspondence with the district administration seeking intervention but still no intiative has been taken The State Government is facing loss of Rs 29,87,000 daily with closure of this mine. Even the SECL is facing huge losses.

For Aamadand Open Mine, 699.942 hectare land of Nimha Kuhka village panchayat and 651 houses was acquired in year 2004 and 2006 and this mine was operating with capacity of 40 lakh tonne coal production annually. But now some locals are creating disturbances in the work.

When Divisional Commissioner Rajeev Sharma got wind of this, he sent letter to Collector and SP, Anuppur directing them to ensure that operation of open mine Aamadand is done without any hindrance and also ordered for strict action against those disrupting work. But even the order of the Divisional Commissioner is not being followed. Locals of Nimha Kuhka village panchayat submitted memorandum to the district Collector, Anuppur and Divisional Commissioner, Shahdol demanding for opening of the mine and strict action against those disrupting the coal production. They had warned of staging dharna on Oct 15. Then district administration did show some action and SDM, Kotma and SDOP, Tehsildar and local officers held meeting but they could not come to any conclusion and hence still production is topped at open mine. Even Chief Minister Chauhan during video conferencing held few days back, has directed district administration for proper running of Aamadand Open Mine but still condition I same and production is halted.