Privatization: Coal unions talk to government on strike

New Delhi, Jan 7: Coal industry unions said Wednesday that they were in talks with the government over their opposition to privatization that has sparked a five-day strike Tuesday.

"It is the second day of the strike today (Wednesday). We are trying to talk to the central government in the evening. Let us see what happens," Basant Kumar Rai, vice president of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), told IANS.

The BMS, affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is one of the major central unions taking part in the strike that has hit production particularly in mines of Coal India Ltd.

Another union leader, Jibon Roy, said more workers had joined the strike Wednesday.

"The participation rate has increased. Yesterday (Tuesday) evening we had a word with the coal secretary but there was no breakthrough," Roy from the CITU-affiliated All India Coal Workers Federation told IANS.

He added: "Two parallel lines can never meet! Today they have deployed police in the mines."