19 sued for Barapukuria coalmine corruption

A total of 19 people have been sued over corruption at Barapukuria coalmine in Dinajpur that led to a crisis of coal at the Barapukuria Power Plant, prompting it to shut down indefinitely.

Coal mine Administration Manager Anisur Rahman filed the case with the Parbatipur Model Police Station at 12am on Wednesday. 

Habibul Haque Pradhan, officer-in-charge of Parbatipur Model Police Station, confirmed the matter to Jago News. 

According to the case document, the accused 19 were involved in the theft of 144,644 metric tons of coal, worth around Tk230 crore.

BCMCL Managing Director Md Habib Uddin Ahmed, General Manager Md Abul Quashem Pradhania, GM of (Operations & Mining) Abu Taher Mohammad Nuruzzaman Chowdhury, and Deputy General Manager (Store) Khaledul Islam, are among those named in the case.

The Barapukuria thermal power plant has three units. The largest unit, with a capacity of 275MW, was shut down on Sunday, while the other two units, each with a capacity of 125MW, were shut down earlier.  

The units were all shut down due to a shortage of coal, as 144,644 metric tons of coal meant for the power plant had disappeared.

On Monday, a local ACC team led by Deputy Director Benazir Ahmed visited the mine and found the coal missing. It has been alleged that the coal, worth around Tk230 crore, was illegally sold from Barapukuria coal mine.