TRADERS and residents of Surguja district head-quarters and nearby villages have expressed shock over closure of Parsa East and Kete Basen (PEKB) coal mine project.

The employees working in the mine are also now facing the fear of losing their jobs. For the last one decade, villagers of Salhi, Parsa, Ghatbarra, Fattepur and Tara have been working in PEKB open mines.

The project is a source of livelihood for the people here. Along with this, the State and Central Governments too collected royalty to the tune of several crores of rupees.

The mining has been stopped for one week in the PEKB open mine project under Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (RRVUNL). More than 5,000 local people are directly employed in this open coal mine, started in

the year 2013. At the same time, twice as many people turning to the statue of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi located at Panchayat Bhawan. During the rally, villagers expressed their fear of losing their jobs. Villagers said that if the mine work is not resumed then many public interest works run by the company in the villages may be closed. Villagers have appealed to both governments that PEKB mine should be started again for their livelihood and to keep the public interest works running smoothly.