HYDERABAD: In what could end the male-dominated work culture in coal mines – both underground and open-cast – the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) in Telangana has decided to allocate two coal mines exclusively for women workers in the Godavarikhani coal belt. One coal mine will be underground and the other will be open-cast.
“From Jan 2025, we are planning to allocate one open-cast mine exclusively for women workers. All workers and staff will be women. From March or April, we are planning to allocate an underground mine to women,” N Balram, CMD of SCCL, told TOI.
“Earlier, we only had women workers in certain categories like general mazdoors and other field-level workers. We recently recruited some women officers and in supervisory categories as well. Now, we can deploy all categories of women workers and staff in coal mines,” he added.
SCCL has 42 coal mines, including 22 underground and 20 open-cast. SCCL officials said that apart from identifying jobs for women, counselling sessions, training and orientation were conducted before giving them placements.