Coal officials in Dhanbad are on the boil over what they call a spate of attacks on them, the latest being the assault on a BCCL colliery manager in Katras, in which they alleged the Baghmara MLA of the ruling BJP had a hand.

Officials under the aegis of Coal Mines Officers' Association of India, who held a news conference on Sunday at Black Diamond Club, Koylanagar, to air their grievances, said they planned to seek the intervention of the Prime Minister's Office over 14 criminal assault cases in Dhanbad in 26 months, which they said had undermined their confidence and fuelled insecurity.

From local rivalries and politics behind awarding of tenders, to trade union demands and pollution-related protests, coal officials are the first to be targeted, said the association members, demanding a free and fair probe for every such case in colliery areas.

On January 15, 2017, Chaitudih colliery manager Pankaj Kumar was allegedly manhandled by two supporters of MLA Dhullu Mahto, Basant Chauhan and Pappu Chouhan, and their men. Allegedly, attackers accused Kumar of misbehaving with a woman supporter of the MLA. Kumar had denied the charges.

But, the coal mines officers association general secretary Bhawani Bandyopadhyay said despite a named FIR against Basant and Pappu, police did nothing on the case.

"We pursued the issue with SSP Manoj Ratan Chothe on January 24 this year by meeting him and again by meeting Baghmara DSP Prabhat Kumar very next day. But the accused are yet to be arrested," Bandyopadhyay said. "As the attack had been carried out by supporters of Baghmara MLA Dhullu Mahto of the ruling party, we feel officers are being attacked at the behest of the state government."

Among the 14 assault incidents, he also mentioned the attack on deputy manager of Borragarh colliery Prabhat Kumar on September 3, 2015, allegedly by trade union leader of Janata Mazdoor Sangh Devendra Singh.

"We want the central and state governments and Coal India to take note and stop this growing sense of insecurity among coal officials," he added.

President of CMOAI Aniruddh Pandey also demanded a court of inquiry under provisions of The Mines Act, 1952, in the case of the Lalmatia mines mishap in Godda, and alleged that the top management of Eastern Coalfields and Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) were directly responsible for the incident in which at least 18 workers died.

Delay in implementation of the new pension plan for retired coal officers, anomalies in implementation of performance-related pay scheme, vacant posts of director and chairman-cum-managing level officers in different subsidiaries of Coal India, including BCCL and CCL, were other concerns at the news meet.