According to ECL sources, personnel departments at the mines have been sent the `closure-format' which needs details of all the employees of the mines, their designations and accumulated gratuity-provident fund dues.

Sources said that preliminary calculations of dues have been completed in some areas. An ECL revival monitoring cell has been set up at the headquarters which has started functioning in a manner similar to a closure monitoring cell.

ECL will have to shell out Rs 1,500 crore to shed the excess staff.

According to unconfirmed reports from sources, CIL will be arranging funds for the retrenched workers. The funds are likely to arrive around the first week of January 1999under heavy security.

Meanwhile, the ECL officers' association has suggested a revival plan to CIL. Tapan Mazumdar, spokesman of the organisation, told The Financial Express "We want CIL to provide an assistance of Rs 300 crore and waive the accumulated interest."

A meeting with the officers of six mining areas scheduled to be closed down was scheduled for Wednesday at ECL's headquarters in Sanctoria, but was cancelled at the last minute.

The colliery level leaders of the various trade unions in the Ranigunj-Asansol belt are meeting with the central trade union leaders in Calcutta on Thursday. The central trade unions are organising a rally on November 11 here to protest the closures. The trade unions are also working on a revival plan.

The joint consultative committee (JCC) for CIL will be meeting on November 16, in Sanctoria at the ECL headquarters.

At the last meeting of the JCC held on October 28, the management had asked the employees' associations.