Coal Missing in Barapukuria: ACC sues 23 officials

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday pressed charges of misappropriation of about Tk 243.28 crore against 23 officials of Barapukuria Coal Mining Ltd.

The company’s former managing directors Mahbubur Rahman, Abdul Aziz Khan, Khurshidul Hasan, Kamruzzaman, Aminuzzaman, SM Nurul Aorangajeb and Habib Uddin Ahammad are among the accused.

The accused officials misappropriated about 1.43 lakh tonnes of coal between 2006 and July 2018, said ACC Public Relations Officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya.

The ACC found that the officials sold the coal to local buyers and misappropriated the money between 2006 and 2018.

A case was filed with Parbatipur Police Station in Dinajpur on July 24 last year in connection with the disappearance of the of coal from company yard.

The government also formed a six-member committee to assess coal production, sale and stock at the 17-acre yard of the mine.

According to the its findings, 1,01,66,000 tonnes of coal was produced between 2005 and June 29, 2018. Of that, 66,87,000 tonnes were supplied to the PDB since 2006 for generating power.

Besides, 33.19 lakh tonnes were sold to different organisations and brickkilns. The mine authorities took another 12,000 tonnes for their own use.

So, there should have been a stock of 1,48,000 tonnes of coal at the yard. But the committee found only around 3,000 tonnes.

The coal crisis affected the power generation of Barapukuria 525MW Power Plant.

People suffered power disruption due to the coal crisis for nearly two months.

Others charged in the case are former general managers Shariful Alam, Abul Kasem Pradhania and Abu Taher Nur-uz-Zaman Chowdhury; managers Masudur Rahman Hawladar, Arifur Rahman, Shoyebur Rahman, Ashok Kumar Haldar and Syed Imam Hasan; deputy managers Muhammad Khalilur Rahman, Morsheduzzaman, Habibur Rahman and Zahedur Rahman; assistant managers Satendra Nath Barman and Moniruzzaman; and suspended deputy general manager AKM Khaledul Islam and Deputy General Manager Jobayer Ali.

The ACC dropped charges against managers Mosharaf Hossain Sarkar and Jahidul Islam, Deputy Manager Ekramul Haque, former general manager Abdul Mannan Patwari and General Manager Gopal Chandra Saha.