Fallout of Coal Crisis: Barapukuria power plant shut down

The Barapukuria Power Plant was shut down last night for an indefinite period for a lack of fuel supply, a direct fallout of some 1.45 lakh tonnes of coal “going missing” from the yard of Barapukuria coalmine.

“We shut down the power plant for an indefinite period at 10:30pm,” Abdul Hakim, chief engineer of the plant, told The Daily Star minutes after the plant went silent.

The plant had a capacity to generate 525 megawatt of power, but its recent highest production hovered around 380MW, according to Mahbubur Rahman, superintendent of the power plant at Parbatipur in Dinajpur.  

The plant had three units, all of which got their fuel from the Barapukuria coalmine. One of them was taken offline early this month and another on Wednesday due to coal crisis.

The last unit, which added 250MW of power to the national grid yesterday, was turned off last night.

The development has caused quite a stir within the Barapukuria coalmine, the Power Development Board (PDB) and the coalmine's parent company Petrobangla.

On Thursday, four top officials of the mine -- its managing director, two general managers and a deputy general manager -- were removed from their posts after the PDB and the Petrobangla found that around 1.45 lakh tonnes of coal, worth over Tk 227 crore, went missing from the mine yard. 

Meanwhile, coalmine officials yesterday downplayed the discovery, saying the shortage was a result of a system loss over the years, which was never adjusted. 

Since production started at the mine in 2005, some coal might have been lost due to system loss such as washout in rainwater, dust, moisture, and spontaneous combustion, said an official, asking not to be named.

“About 1.4 percent coal was lost due to system loss. But the issue was never raised or discussed before,” Abul Kashem Prodhaniya, one of the general managers removed from his post, told The Daily Star yesterday. 

However, sources in the mine said such high system loss can happen only when the extracted coal is left on the yard for more than six months.

The coal was sold off instantly to the PDB and local buyers, including brickkiln owners, they added.

Two Petrobangla officials, who served as managing directors at the mine in the past, also disagreed with such high system loss.

After the coal was found missing, the government formed a six-member committee to assess the total coal production, sale and current stock at the yard.  

According to their findings, some 1,01,66,000 tonnes of coal were produced at the mine between 2005 and June 29 this year. Of the volume, 66,87,000 tonnes were supplied to the PDB for generating power at the Barapukuria power plant since 2006, said Jubaer Ahmed, a deputy general manager (operations) of the mine, who led the team. 

Besides, 33.19 lakh tonnes were sold to different organisations and brickkilns. The mine authorities took another 12,000 tonnes for their own use, such as for running their air conditioners and heating systems, he added.

So, there should have been a stock of 1,48,000 tonnes of coal at the 17-acre yard. But in fact, the team found there was only 3,000 tonnes left, Jubaer told The Daily Star.  

“Now that the plant is shut, who will take the responsibility?” asked an official of the mine.