OMDC employees write to PM demanding salary, other rights

Keonjhar: OMDC Karmachari Sangha, an association of Orissa Mineral Development Company (OMDC) employees, has written a letter to the Prime Minister of India regarding mismanagement in OMDC, Barbil and non-payment of their salaries. The employees alleged that due to persistent mismanagement, lack of operational vision and impact of Shah Commission’s recommendations, the OMDC has been pushed into a state of crisis in spite no liabilities.

No substantial effort has been made to revive the company or restore its operation on a sustainable path, the employees said. The employees have allegedly not getting regular salaries since 2022, in spite of production and dispatch. Furthermore, they have been working without any revision of wages for the past 16 years. “The company has generated revenue exceeding Rs 140 crore in recent months. Despite that, salaries of employees, including local tribal and contractual workers, have been stopped for the past nine months without any notice or valid reason, leaving hundreds of families in distress,” said Debakanta Rath, secretary of the OMDC Karmachari Sangh. “Due to this, we are facing severe financial and mental distress and are forced to sell our household valuables and jewellery, take loans for family expenses, children’s education and family healthcare,” secretary of the OMDC Karmachari Sangh further said.

The employees requested the PM to intervene and fulfil their five charter demands, including revival of OMDC operation, immediate release of pending salaries and other dues to all OMDC employees, implementation of revised pay scale as the central norms, and enhanced superannuation age from 58 years to 60 years.

OMDC is a mining and trading company with a proud history of over 107 years, which was declared a Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSE) in 2010. “It is also a subsidiary of RINL, a profitable enterprise with over Rs 1,000 crores bank reserve and supporting thousands of direct and indirect jobs, particularly among tribal population in and around the Barbil and Joda area,” said Jyoti Ranjan Mohanty, president, OMDC Karmachari Sangh. Contacted, OMDC MD Vasudha Chandra Suratkal denied comments on the employees’ issues.

News